A PRIVATE care home company was fined £150,000 today for safety failings which led to a 56-year-old resident dying of legionnaires’ disease.

Andy Clegg, who lived at Fordingbridge Care Home in Hampshire, run by Sentinel Healthcare, died in November 2017, two weeks after being admitted to Salisbury District Hospital.

He had been diagnosed with Legionella pneumonia after being exposed to Legionella bacteria at the care home.

Law firm Irwin Mitchell, which represented Mr Clegg's family, said that “vast quantities” of Legionella had been found on taps and the shower in his room.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) launched a criminal investigation against Sentinel Healthcare, which pleaded guilty to charges of causing harm and death and exposing all other residents at the care home to a risk of harm.

The home operator was fined £150,000 at Southampton magistrates’ court and ordered to pay costs of £17,500 and a victim surcharge of £170.

Mr Clegg moved to the care home in April 2017 after suffering mental health problems.

His brother Matt said: “While three years has passed since Andy’s death, the hurt and pain we continue to feel is as strong now as it was when he died.

“Andy was such a loving and caring man. We have always known that nothing could ever make up for his death, but as a family we owed him a duty to find out what happened to him and why.”

A spokeswoman for Sentinel Healthcare said: “We accept the findings of the court and apologise wholeheartedly for the events that led to the passing of Mr Clegg.”