Harrowing photographs show inside the filthy rubbish-filled home where a man left his wife of 25 years to rot to death covered in faeces and maggots.
Paramedics and two firefighters had to wear protective clothing to move Valerie Wallach from the stained armchair she had been left to fester in at the house in Toxteth, Liverpool.
The frail and vulnerable 61-year-old was in some of the 'worse conditions ever seen'.
The mum-of-two still had newspaper stuck to her clothing and a Pot Noodle sachet on her leg when she arrived in hospital, reports the Liverpool Echo.
She died 19 days later, after being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, organ failure and pressurised sores.
Her husband Richard Wallach was found guilty on Tuesday of killing Mrs Wallach through gross negligence.
The 67-year-old failed to look after his wife before she was eventually admitted to hospital riddled with skin ulcers and infested with flies and maggots in August 2017.
However, he insisted to police he "loved the bones of her.”
But hospital staff claimed he was more concerned with his own constipation when he was told that his wife would die.
Wallach was still living in the home until the verdict was delivered this week.
Pictures shared by the Crown Prosecution Service expose the severity of how bad the couple's living conditions were.
Rubbish and unopened mail littered the hallway that led into the living room where Mrs Wallach was left confined to an armchair.
Piles of papers, Pot Noodle packaging and filled bin bags cover every surface surrounding the brown leather Chesterfield which was reportedly soiled with Mrs Wallach's faeces.
A number of framed photographs can also be seen sitting on shelves, but the images are barely visible through the grime in the dark room.
The couple's kitchen is also covered in open food containers and piles of rubbish.
In the tidiest room of the house, where Wallach told the court he spent most of his time, cigarette packets and filled ashtrays can be seen on an ironing board that he used as a table.
The paramedics were shocked by what they saw when they arrived at the house. It was filthy and Mrs Wallach was in a chair, pale, struggling for breath, vacant and her skin was inflamed and covered in flies.
The conditions were described as "truly appalling", and there were a large quantity of bags of rubbish with rotting and mouldy food.
Emergency workers were forced to wade through the bags to reach her.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that Mrs Wallach was admitted to the city’s Royal Hospital on 24 August 2017 with pressure sores and sepsis .
Husband Wallach had turned up alone at a nearby medical centre earlier that day and said his wife had collapsed in a chair at their home.
He said she was still responsive, but was babbling. He said he couldn’t call an ambulance as he didn’t have a telephone.
The doctor thought it was more likely that she had been in the horrific condition for weeks, if not months.
She was in a critical condition and staff were shocked at the poor state of her health.
She was covered in faeces and there were maggots in the folds of her skin.
Some of Mrs Wallach's pressure sores were categorised as Grade 4, the most serious type, and had caused her skin to shed, right down to the bone.
They were mostly on her heels, the backs of her legs and below her buttocks.
Kate Johnston, a tissue viability support nurse, said Mrs Wallach was brought in in "an appalling state."
She said: "Her clothing was covered in faeces and she hadn't washed in some time.
"There was newspaper stuck to her clothing and a Pot Noodle sachet stuck to her leg.
"Her husband, who was clean and tidy, was told that she was likely to die soon."
Wallach replied: 'Thanks for letting me know but who is going to sort out my problem? I’ve been constipated for weeks.'
Mrs Wallach died on September 12, 2017. An autopsy revealed the cause of death as multi-organ failure, breast cancer and infected pressure ulcers.
Prosecutor Richard Pratt said: "The collective experience of the fire officers spanned well over 30 years – they had never seen a living human being in such a poor condition."
After his wife's death, Wallach was interviewed by police and later charged with gross negligence manslaughter.
He maintained that it had been her choice to spend all her time in the chair.
He said he used to help her upstairs to the toilet but she had become immobile and so stayed in the chair and slept there.
Wallach claimed he would see her several times a day and would give her sandwiches and takeaway meals such as fish and chips, which she would feed herself, and give her Coca Cola to drink.
He told detectives: “We were together for 25 years and I loved the bones of her.”
In court, QC David McLachlan asked Wallach if he was responsible for his wife’s death, he replied: “I take offence at that. I am not guilty for the death of my wife, no way.”
When shown photographs of the state of the downstairs of the house Wallach, a former partner in a Cornish guest house, admitted: “I am an untidy person. I am just generally untidy.”
He said they showed an “atrocious messy state.”
Wallach, who has been found by a psychiatrist to be suffering from “hoarding” disorder, was also shown photographs of his wife in hospital and admitted the injuries were “very bad".
He added: "I must have had a mental lapse or something. I do not recall those injuries at all.
“I looked after her to the best of my ability.
“I assumed she was all right.
"If she had been in pain she would have let me know and I would have done something about it."
Asked why he had shown indifference about his wife’s grave condition at the hospital, he said he had no recollection. He said that he assumed the hospital would make her better and did not think she was going to die.
Prosecutor Mr Pratt pointed out the “atrocious” odour found by emergency workers but Wallach said he had not noticed and dealt with the smell by opening the window and using air fresheners.
Wallach pleaded not guilty to the charge and his trial began this week at Liverpool Crown Court.
On Thursday, a jury found Wallach guilty of gross negligence manslaughter. He will be sentenced on October 10.
Sharon Campbell, a lawyer with the Complex Casework Unit of Mersey Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Mr Wallach said he was unaware of Valerie’s deteriorating health despite the fact he was the only person living with her and caring for her.
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