THE stepson of a veteran who was left lying in his own blood for more than 12 hours has said his family’s grief has been delayed and affected after a carer was jailed for his death.

Izabela Dauti, 40, of Bell Road, Andover, cried in the dock on June 7 as she was jailed for four and half years for the death of Malcolm Cox after a ten-day trial at Winchester Crown Court.

Mr Cox, a retired sergeant major, fell and hit his head on a ceramic plant pot on November 14, 2016, and suffered a six-centimetre wound.

He began to bleed profusely but mother-of-one Dauti chose to call her lover Gwyn Price and a friend instead of phoning 999.

In a victim impact statement Mr Cox’s step-son John Wells said: “The death of my step father Malcolm Cox in 2016 was sudden and unexpected and because of the investigation that followed ... the period of grieving and sense of loss which followed were affected by and to an extent deferred by the unknown nature of the circumstances.

“I felt more distressed than I anticipated when I heard how his death might have been and indeed could have been avoided.

“I find it deeply disturbing that anyone could fail to take any action to obtain medical assistance for someone in such an obviously serious and potentially life-threatening condition.

“Had the person or persons involved acted with any degree of compassion my stepfather would probably have been alive today.”

Mr Cox, aged 84, is believed to have crawled around Dauti’s flat as his organs began to fail and yet Dauti refused to call emergency services, instead she used a mop and bucket in attempts to rid her flat of his blood.

Mr Cox suffered “significant” blood loss and was taken to Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital on November 15 but died the following day.