THE mother of a teenager who drowned in a bath at an NHS care home has said she is ‘shocked and devastated’ after a tribunal handed the doctor in charge of her son’s care a ‘lenient’ 12 month suspension.

Sara Ryan criticised the decision by the Medical Practioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) saying Valerie Murphy should have been struck off the register having ‘failed in every aspect of being a doctor’.

Dr Murphy, a psychiatrist at the now closed Slade House in Headington, was handed the year-long ban after Connor Sparrowhawk was found submerged in a bath at the facility in 2013.

The 18-year-old, who had epilepsy and learning difficulties, had suffered an epileptic fit while left unattended.

Mr Sparrowhawk’s family are investigating if the tribunal’s ruling can be challenged.

Dr Ryan, an Oxford University academic, said: “I’m devastated.

“I’m just shocked at the decision – the findings against her were so damning.

“The number of errors that had been made – if any action had been taken over any one of them it could have prevented Connor’s death.”

Dr Ryan revealed the ‘unimaginably brutal’ experience had had a serious impact on her health.

In a statement she said: “Over the past four years, Valerie Murphy has repeatedly failed to show any remorse and has failed to apologise to us.

“She has allowed her legal counsel on two occasions to subject me to cruel cross-examination insinuating I was somehow responsible for his death.”

Medical watchdogs previously ruled Dr Murphy had 'ultimate responsibility' for the teenager and her fitness to practise was impaired.

The tribunal, which concluded on Wednesday, heard staff checks on Mr Sparrowhawk had been reduced from every 10 or 15 minutes to every hour.

Chairing the tribunal in Manchester, Martin Jackson told Dr Murphy her failures had been ‘catastrophic’ and his death ‘could and should have’ been prevented.

She admitted a string of failures in caring for Mr Sparrowhawk, saying she had ‘taken her eye off the ball’.

Initially Southern Health, which ran Slade House, decided Dr Murphy would not be referred to the General Medical Council, leaving it to Mr Sparrowhawk's family to fight for sanctions.

The trust said yesterday it now ‘deeply regrets’ that.