Winterbourne View: Care workers jailed for abuse

 Care workers who admitted a total of 38 charges of neglect or abusing patients at a private hospital have been sentenced at Bristol Crown Court.

The 11 workers from Winterbourne View near Bristol were shown pinning down and hitting patients, in a BBC Panorama undercover report shown last year. Ringleader Wayne Rogers, 32, who admitted nine counts of ill-treating patients, was jailed for two years.  Judge Neil Ford QC said there was a "culture of cruelty" at the care home. A total of two nurses and nine support workers all pleaded guilty to the charges.

'Scandalous lack of regard'

Alison Dove, 25, of Kingswood, was jailed for 20 months as has Graham Doyle, 26, of Patchway. Both pleaded guilty to seven charges of abuse.

Nurse Sookalingum Appoo, 58, of Downend was jailed for six months, having admitted wilfully neglecting patients in her care.

Judge Ford said no attempt was made to provide a caring environment and if the abuse had not been uncovered by the BBC, it would have continued.  He told the sentencing hearing the home had been "run with a scandalous lack of regard to patients and staff".  "What happened was a gross breach of trust," he said.

Prosecutor Kerry Barker QC, said care watchdogs failed to act on repeated warnings of "inhumane, cruel and hate-fuelled treatment" of patients. "The so-called restraint techniques were used to inflict pain, humiliate patients and bully them into compliance with the demands of their carers," he said.

'Bite face off'

This week's sentencing hearing has seen footage of five residents at the care home being abused. Among the hours of graphic footage played to the court, support worker Rogers slapped Simon Tovey across the cheek and told him: "Do you want a scrap? Do you want a fight? Go on and I will bite your bloody face off." The other care workers sentenced are:

Michael Ezenagu, 29, from Shepherds Bush, west London; Jason Gardiner, 44, of Hartcliffe; Daniel Brake, 27, of Downend; Holly Laura Draper, 23, of Mangotsfield; Charlotte Justine Cotterell, 21, from Yate; Neil Ferguson, 27, of Emerson Green; and Wayne Rogers, 31, of Kingswood. They all admit ill-treating patients in their care.

Kelvin Fore, 33, from Middlesbrough pleaded guilty to wilfully neglecting patients in their care.

BBC News