Care assistants guilty of 'appalling abuse of trust'
Two care assistants who abused severely disabled patients were convicted today of "an appalling abuse of trust".
Cheers mate! Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson receives MBE
Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson's MBE moment sparks magical memories of when I collected my OBE.
Doncaster children services under fire
Child protection services at Doncaster Council have been criticised in a new report.
Live updates
Care assistants guilty of 'appalling abuse of trust'
Two care assistants who abused severely disabled patients were convicted today of "an appalling abuse of trust".
Read the full storyCheers mate! Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson receives MBE
Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson's MBE moment sparks magical memories of when I collected my OBE.
Read the full storyAdvertisement
Care assistants guilty of 'appalling abuse of trust'
Two care assistants have been convicted for what a court heard was "an appalling abuse of trust".
James Hinds and Susan Murphy were found guilty of systematically ill-treating severely disabled patients at a mental health unit in Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
ITV News Correspondent Martin Geissler reports:
NHS Trust 'apologises' for care abuse pair
Dr Nav Ahluwalia, executive medical director for Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust said: "We fully apologised to service users and their families at the time of the incidents and we apologise again today for the actions of the individuals that have been found guilty.
"The trust took immediate action as soon as we were made aware of the situation in 2007 and worked with South Yorkshire Police in their investigation into this matter.
"The trust has implemented improvements to the learning disability service at this centre to minimise the risks of such incidents happening again.
"We will not tolerate staff mistreating service users and have reinforced our channels of communication to ensure that staff, service users and carers report suspected abuse so that we can take action."
Pair slapped and hit patients at care centre
Hinds and Murphy were found guilty of ill-treating 12 different outpatients between them at the the Solar Centre, which is run by Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH).
All are extremely vulnerable adults, with limited communication abilities and a range of physical disabilities including blindness.
Many of the attacks involved patients being slapped and hit around the head.
Hinds threw one man into a wheelchair, dragged another to the toilet and hit another with a microphone.
Murphy locked one woman in a cupboard, the court heard.
All the incidents happened in a period between January 2005 and March 2007.
Mother of Solar Centre abuse victim speaks out
The mother of a victim of abuse at the Solar Centre in Doncaster speaks about the impact on her daughter.
Advertisement
Abuse care staff 'likely' to be given custodial sentences
Judge Rosalind Coe told the two who were convicted they will be sentenced on June 14.
She said: "You are both fully aware that custodial sentences are the likely outcome."
Hinds was acquitted of nine further charges and Murphy was cleared of five further charges after the jury of five men and seven women deliberated for two days.
Both were given conditional bail but were remanded in custody until their passports could be brought to the court and surrendered after the judge heard they had been living in Spain.
Verdicts delivered in Solar Centre abuse trial
The jury has returned verdicts in the trial of four health care workers accused of carrying out a catalogue of abuse on severely disabled patients at the Solar Centre in Doncaster.
James Hinds was found guilty of 10 counts. Susan Murphy was found guilty of 15 counts. They will be sentenced at a later date.
Michael Barnard and Julie Burge were cleared.
Doncaster children services under fire
Child protection services at Doncaster Council have been criticised in a new report.
Read the full storyGove: Vulnerable children should be taken into care more quickly
More children should be taken into care more quickly to rescue them from " a life of soiled nappies and scummy baths, chaos and hunger, hopelessness and despair," Michael Gove said.
The Education Secretary said too many children were living in "physical and moral squalor," being allowed to stay with neglectful or abusive parents for too long.
I firmly believe more children should be taken into care more quickly and that too many children are allowed to stay too long with parents whose behaviour is unacceptable.
I want social workers to be more assertive with dysfunctional parents, courts to be less indulgent of poor parents, and the care system to expand to deal with the consequences.
Today's top stories
