Care assistant jailed for abuse of 89-year-old woman

A care assistant who was caught abusing an 89-year-old woman after her family recorded the “gratuitous” mistreatment on a hidden CCTV camera was jailed today.

Emma Bryan, 29, hit and shook Ivy Robinson, and together with a colleague, Katherine Wallis, dragged her across her bedroom floor making her scream with pain, before Wallis threatened her with violence.

Bryan also verbally abused Mrs Robinson, who suffered dementia, on several occasions, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Relatives decided to install a hidden camera after becoming concerned that the pensioner was bruised and would become “agitated and frightened” when they left her after visiting.

Five days of abuse were captured on the device, which was concealed in an alarm clock.

Bryan was jailed for four months while Wallis, 45, was given a 12-month community order. Both are from the Pontefract area.

Sentencing the pair, Judge Guy Kearl QC said: “This neglect and ill-treatment is unforgivable and unacceptable. You failed to accord respect and dignity to this respectful elderly lady.”

Richard Butters, prosecuting, said the footage captured between November 11 and 16 last year showed Mrs Robinson was subjected to an array of “utterly undignified” treatment.

He said her daughter Angela Wood gave up her job to help Oakfoss staff to care for her mother, who had lived at the home for six years.

But Mrs Wood became increasingly concerned about how she was being treated.

“Angela Wood and her husband Simon Wood started to see bruises developing on Ivy Robinson’s hands,” he said.

“She was also becoming rather distressed, more so than usual, when her daughter was about to leave.

“Having their suspicions, Simon Wood, the son-in-law, put a covert camera into his mother-in-law’s room. The footage that’s on that camera is distressing.”

Bryan was recorded swearing at Mrs Robinson, calling her a “horrible old lady”, a “silly old t***” and a “nasty old cow”, Mr Butters said.

The footage also revealed she had failed to give the pensioner her medicine properly and showed her striking her on the hand and shaking her before telling her to “piss off”.

On one occasion, both Bryan and Wallis dragged Mrs Robinson between her chair and bed, “completely ignoring the wishes of Ivy, chatting among themselves”, he added. “It’s at that point one can hear Ivy shrieking.”

A care assistant trainer who viewed the footage described it as the worst case of ill-treatment and neglect she had ever seen and said she was “physically upset” by the recording, the court heard.

Bryan admitted four counts of wrongly administering medicine at an earlier hearing. Both women also admitted ill-treatment by moving a patient in an unapproved manner.

Matthew Harding, for Bryan, said she was “caught in the act” but pleaded guilty straight away. “She recognises that her behaviour was disgraceful,” he said.

Stephen Swan, representing Wallis who now works as a cleaner, said she too entered an early guilty plea and regretted her actions.

Banning both of them from working with vulnerable adults, the judge said the case represented a serious breach of trust and left Mrs Robinson and her family deeply upset.

He said: “This lady doesn’t seem to have caused you any problems at all, which makes this treatment seem somewhat gratuitous.

“You’ve known perfectly well that what you were doing was simply wrong.”

Mr and Mrs Wood said in a statement outside court that Mrs Robinson was “physically, verbally, and medically neglected and abused” by staff who should have been caring for her.

“To see what mum was subjected to sickened and horrified us,” they said.

“The decision to install the CCTV came as a last resort and was a culmination of various incidents over a period of months that could not be explained by staff at Oakfoss.

“The final trigger was when mum became agitated and frightened when it came time for us to leave on an evening. She would cry and ask us not to leave.

“No one knows how long this abuse and neglect had been going on for.”

“We hope that other families can learn from mum’s ordeal and be aware of certain signs. Just because someone has dementia does not mean that they do not know what is going on – please listen to them and act.”

The couple said they had decided to move her out of the home and added: “We are taking legal advice in regards to further action against Oakfoss House and Denestar Ltd.”

Gaynor Saunders, managing director of Denestar, which owns the home, said: “I was devastated to learn that two long-standing, experienced employees who’d been given extensive training in caring for and safeguarding elderly and vulnerable people had behaved in such an abhorrent way.”

She said she had immediately notified police, social services and the Care Quality Commission and worked closely with them.

“The resident involved remained at Oakfoss House, and words cannot express how sorry I am that she and her family have suffered at the hands of people who ignored their duty provide the care, kindness and respect she should have received.”