The trial of 9 employees of the Cygnet run ‘independent hospital’, Whorlton Hall in Barnard Castle, County Durham was opened yesterday at Teesside Crown Court.

HHJ Smith introduced the jury bundle to them, before asking Ms Richardson, for the Crown, to open the case. She introduced to the jury who was in court, ending with the defendants.

She explained where they were in the dock, and explained that within the jury bundle there was an aide memoire which included photographs of the defendants and information including their positions at the relevant time at Whorlton Hall. The bundle also included a short description of what each position entailed, a job description and who they were accountable for or to.

In her opening to the court, Ms Richardson explained that this case largely relies on clips covertly filmed by an undercover BBC reporter, Olivia Davies, in relation to Whorlton Hall, a 17 bed “specialist hospital unit”, currently owned and operated by Cygnet Healthcare.

She went on to explain that the hospital served those with high dependency and complex needs, including those with mental health difficulties, autism and learning disabilities. She said that the individual patients had care plans that reflected their needs, and provided detail of how to communicate and support them.

All of the patients at Whorlton Hall were detained under Section 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983 and she explained that they all “had extremely complex needs” and that it was “highly unlikely any would be able to live independently… it goes without saying then that they were extremely vulnerable”.

She outlined therefore that the patients received 24 hour care, by a mixture of day and night staff. She stated that “caring for these patients is a hard, demanding job” and that many of the patients [when distressed and displaying behaviour some may find challenging] “don’t realise that what they’re doing is wrong, and can not help their actions”. She outlined that some of the residents may harm themselves, others or staff, before confirming that “those residents and patients, and their families who trust the residential home with their loved ones, expect and deserve, deserve them to be treated with kindness, respect and patience”.

This trial is concerned with allegations of ill-treatment of a person in care (26 counts) and one of wilful neglect of a person in care; both of which are contrary to Section 20(1) of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, which states that:

It is an offence for an individual who has the care of another individual by virtue of being a care worker to ill-treat or wilfully to neglect that individual.

Ms Richardson then introduced each of the counts, and the defendants in turn. All of the defendants are not on all charges, but they were all members of staff at Whorlton Hall at the relevant time. All of the defendants have pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Ms Richardson outlined that it was the prosecutions’s case that the care of the patients named was “not only devoid of the respect and kindness that those residents deserved, but also a criminal offence”. She pointed out that the legislation exists to protect those who are unable, due to their mental or physical capacity, to protect themselves.

Ms Richardson explained that the Crown doesn’t suggest that the defendants were ill-treating all the patients all of the time, neither were any of them charged with physically assaulting the patients. She reiterated that caring for these patients was not an easy job, before stressing that it is for the jury to hear from witnesses, and to watch the BBC footage, and decide whether what “at times was cruel and abusive” was sufficient for them to decide it was “ill-treatment within the relevant law”.

In this post I’ll share what we learnt about the 9 staff, their roles and the charges against them.

Mr Peter Bennett, now 53, had worked for Cygnet since 2009 and was a full time senior member of staff at Whorlton Hall since July 2016.

Matthew Banner, now 43, was a senior full time member of staff. He’d been working at Whorlton Hall since December 2016, and was promoted to Senior Healthcare Worker in December 2017.

Sarah Banner, now 33, was a healthcare assistant, working as a full time member of staff at Whorlton Hall since November 2017.

Matthew and Sarah Banner met at work, beginning a relationship and later marrying. It was company policy that they’d therefore not work the same shifts, so they usually worked opposite shifts to one another.

Karen McGhee, now 54, was a Staff Nurse in Whorlton Hall since December 2017. We heard that as a fully qualified nurse Ms McGhee did not have day to day routine care duties towards patients, but attended incidents at the request of staff, or if she were directly responding to an alarm. Her duties also included ensuring restraint was necessary, safe and proportionate.

Ryan Fuller, now 27, was a full time senior member of staff having worked initially as a support worker from February 2016. He was promoted to a senior in early 2018.

Niall Mellor, now 26, was a healthcare assistant working on a 0 hour contract. Having worked at another secure hospital since November 2015, he transferred to Whorlton Hall in 2018. He worked at least one shift per week and when his university commitments allowed he worked further shifts.

Darren Lawton, now 47, was a support worker at the hospital, working full time from April 2018.

John Sanderson, now 25, began work at Whorlton Hall in June 2018 as a healthcare assistant. The following month he was injured by a patient at the hospital, fracturing his right arm. He returned to work at the end of October 2018, before being injured again in the same place. He returned to work for a second time in January 2019 with his arm in a cast.

Sabah Mahmood, now 27, was a healthcare assistant and she commenced working at Whorlton Hall in October 2018.

Ms Richardson, outlining the case according to the Crown, told the court that in the summer of 2018 the BBC received concerns about Whorlton Hall. On 17 December 2018, a young woman called Olivia Davies began work at Whorlton Hall as a support worker. She was actually a BBC reporter working under cover and filming in secret for a proposed documentary.

Ms Davies starts giving her evidence tomorrow, after the jury have watched the video footage. Ms Richardson told the court that Ms Davies underwent training prior to commencing her role, including ethical and editorial codes by which she abided. Once she was recruited to Whorlton Hall and offered a job as a support worker, she underwent mandatory training, including Maybo training. All of the defendants had also been Maybo trained. It’s designed to support staff to understand approved restraint techniques.

Ms Richardson painted a picture of life at Whorlton Hall. Staff tended to work 12 hour shifts, working with one patient for the morning session of 6 hours, and then the afternoon/evening shift with another patient. They had a variety of tasks to undertake such as settling patients into their rooms, assisting them with day to day personal care, and escorting them on outings outside the hospital. Each staff member had a set of keys to gain access to various parts of the hospital, as well as an alarm key. Some staff provided 1-1 support to patients, some 2 to 1 and some were provided with 4 staff to 1 patient.

There was a general shortage of female staff at Whorlton Hall at the time, although there was also a limited number of female patients. Nursing staff oversaw the supervision of support workers, deciding which patients would be supported by which support workers at any given time.

The charges relate to seven of the patients in the hospital. I don’t want to identify them in any way, but will attempt to tell you a little of what the court heard by way of introduction to them and context to the charges.

Patient 1 was a female in her late teens who had lived in assisted living for most of her adolescent and young adult life. She had her first psychotic episode as a teenager and was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and ASD in 2018. She was in hospital for “behavioural issues” and had been admitted to Whorlton Hall in February 2018. Ms Richardson identified some of the challenges that Patient 1 faced, she could be physically aggressive to those caring for her, particularly when words or phrases were not repeated back to her. She found it comforting to have words repeated. Her mood could alter very quickly, but she could be helped with her anxiety by using a script of words, calming activities, and staff reminding her to listen to white noise through her headphones, and practice deep breathing for example. Patient 1 was clear that her preference was for female carers, which was documented in her care plan. Also documented was that she required structure, predictability and activities conducive to her sensory needs, and how to deal with her distress, and a number of her triggers, such as people eating crisps, and in some situations balloons.

Patient 2 was a female in her late 40s who was autistic, had difficulty in communicating and used her own version of sign language, and could occasionally ask for things over and over again. Her care plan documented the signs that she’d use, to assist staff to work out what she required. She enjoyed listening to music via headphones and reading magazines, and sometimes she found it cathartic to rip up the magazines. If her anxiety was escalating, Patient 2 would start to repeat words, and the instruction to support workers was to reassure her when this happened and help to ease her anxiety.

Patient 3 was a male in his late teens, who was autistic and had a moderate learning disability. He had moved residential placements on a number of occasions, that had left him with a high level of daily anxiety, and on occasions rapidly fluctuating moods, which could be exacerbated by places and objects. Patient 3 had difficulty expressing feelings and could become violent towards himself and others.

Patient 4 was a male in his late 40s. He was autistic, with a mild to moderate learning disability and behaviour that people find challenging. He also lived with Type 2 diabetes, although his care plan was clear that whilst he’d accept his medication for his diabetes, he didn’t like to talk about it, believing that he didn’t have it. He’d become agitated if staff spoke to him about his diabetes. One of his pleasures was listening to music, which he did on a radio in his room. He had a number of triggers that staff were aware of, including any reference to pyjamas. He also didn’t like people being in his room, or his possessions being tampered with in any way.

Patient 5 was a male in his 30s who had been first sectioned when he was in his 20s. He had a moderate learning disability and a history of depression. He also had epilepsy. He had difficulty with communicating, preferring to use gestures and sign language to indicate what he meant. He could be violent, not only to staff members and other residents, but to himself as well and this could often be unpredictable, with no discernible triggers.

Patient 6 was a male in his late 30s and considered one of the “most demanding residents or patients in Whorlton Hall at the time”. Due to his needs and problems lived in his own flat, monitored by CCTV, and he wasn’t able to roam freely around the hospital as other patients were allowed to do. He was assigned 4 staff during the day and 2 in the evening, and he was known to be most settled when he was dealt with by staff he was familiar with, and also when he was not tired or hungry. He was known to not like Ryan Fuller, although it was not known why that might be.

Patient 7 was a young woman in her teens. She had borderline intellectual disorder, and traits of emotionally unstable [disorder]. Her mood was known to change very quickly, and she could be aggressive towards herself and others.

There are 27 charges in total, 26 of which are ill-treatment of a person in care, contrary to Section 20 (1) of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, and one (Count 21) is wilful neglect of a person in care. The particulars of the offences are listed below.

Count 1: Peter Bennett and Matthew Banner on the 6th day of January 2019 being individuals who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 1, by virtue of being care workers did ill-treat the said Patient 1 by threatening her with prolonged use of male carers.

Count 2: Peter Bennett on the 6th day of January 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 1, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 1 by deliberately referencing balloons and snapping balloons in her presence.

Count 3: Matthew Banner on the 11th day of January 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 1, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 1 by threatening to increase the number of male carers for the said Patient 1.

Count 4: Matthew Banner on the 11th day of January 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 1, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 1 by making deliberate references to balloons.

Count 5: Matthew Banner on the 28th day of January 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 1, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 1 by belittling her condition of repeating words, antagonising her about his presence in the room and by making deliberate reference to balloons.

Count 6: Matthew Banner on the 21st day of February 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 1, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 1 by making repeated references to balloons.

Count 7: Matthew Banner on the 22nd day of February 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 1, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 1 by making repeated references to balloons.

Count 8: Karen McGhee on the 11th day of January 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 1, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 1 by threatening her with male carers.

Count 9: Sarah Banner, Ryan Fuller and Karen McGhee on the 24th day of January 2019 being individuals who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 1, by virtue of being care workers did ill-treat the said Patient 1 by threatening her with male carers.

Count 10: Sarah Banner on the 24th day of January 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 1, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 1 by encouraging Patient 1 to continue hitting her own face and laughing at the distressed state of Patient 1.

Count 11: Ryan Fuller on the 19th day of January 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 2, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 2 by encouraging her to swear using her middle and forefinger.

Count 12: Ryan Fuller on the 20th day of February 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 2, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 2 by encouraging her to swear using her middle and forefinger.

Count 13: Peter Bennett on the 28th day of February 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 2, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 2 by mocking her communication difficulties by speaking to her in the French language and advancing toward her suddenly causing her fear.

Count 14: Ryan Fuller on the 23rd day of January 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 3, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 3 by encouraging him to swear using his middle finger.

Count 15: Ryan Fuller on the 25th day of January 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 4, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 4 while restraining him by mocking his reaction, offering chewing gum to others involved in the restraint, wearing Patient 4’s spectacles and suggesting removal of personal possessions from his room as a punishment.

Count 16: Ryan Fuller and John Sanderson on the 2nd day of February 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 4, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 4 by teasing him about his required medications.

Count 17: Niall Mellor between the 24th day of January 2019 and the 3rd day of February 2019, being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 4, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 4 by deliberately turning off his music intending to antagonise him.

Count 18: Niall Mellor on the 25th day of January 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 4, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 4 by making deliberate reference to pyjamas intending to antagonise him.

Count 19: Sarah Banner on the 25th day of January 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 4, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 4 by emptying his room of personal possessions as a punishment and deliberately bringing the items removed to his location intending to cause him distress.

Count 20: Karen McGhee on the 25th day of January 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 4, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 4 when during a restraint of Patient 4 she instructed the removal of personal possessions from his room as a punishment.

Count 21: [This is the wilful neglect charge] Karen McGhee on the 25th day of January 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 4, by virtue of being a care worker did wilfully neglect Patient 4 whilst supervising during a period of restraint by failing to prevent ill-treatment of the said Patient 4 by other care workers in attendance.

Count 22: John Sanderson on the 25th day of February 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 4, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 4 having caused the said Patient 4 to become agitated by tampering with his personal items, John Sanderson then threatened the said Patient 4 with violence and goaded the said Patient 4 to fight with him.

Count 23: Ryan Fuller and Darren Lawton on the 29th day of January 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 5, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 5 by instructing him to lie down on the ground to demonstrate a restraint technique and simulating an assault on him.

Count 24: Ryan Fuller on the 2nd day of February 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 6, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 6 by mocking his disability, calling him insulting names and encouraging Patient 6 to fight with him.

Count 25: Ryan Fuller on the 2nd day of February 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 6, by virtue of being a care worker on an occasion other than that in count 24, did ill-treat the said Patient 6 by antagonising him and encouraging the said Patient 6 to fight with him.

Count 26: Ryan Fuller and Darren Lawton on the 2nd day of February 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 6, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 6 by mocking him and simulating masturbation actions towards the said Patient 6.

Count 27: Sabah Mahmood on the 4th day of January 2019 being an individual who had the care of another individual, namely Patient 7, by virtue of being a care worker did ill-treat the said Patient 7 by shouting aggressively at her, swearing and making derogatory comments about Patient 7’s family.

Ms Richardson told the court that the Crown “does not and should not regulate what people think and say within the confines of their own private home and spaces” however they submit that the footage taken shows the attitude of the defendants to those in their care.

Peter Bennett, was a senior member of staff who Ms Richardson told the court was “someone who liked to show off to other staff members, who would in turn sometimes copy his behaviour towards residents”. He knew that Patient 1 was scared of (most) balloons, yet he repeatedly mentioned them, twanged one in her room and described different colour balloons to her, causing her distress. When Patient 1 attempted to stop Peter Bennett, saying no, he continued to talk about balloons to her. He asked her who brought the balloons in her room into her and she said her mother had. He asked her if she thought that was cruel given Patient 1 didn’t like balloons, so the Crown submit that there “can be no doubt that Peter Bennett knew Patient 1 did not like balloons”.

He also threatened Patient 1 with using an invisible “man button” to summon more male carers, something that all staff knew she did not like.

Peter Bennett also deliberately “pretended he didn’t understand” what another person, Patient 2 was saying when she tried to communicate with him, choosing to speak French to her and frightening her when she came out of her room. Ms Richardson pointed out that “at no point had she been violent or aggressive or noisy”.

Matthew Banner taunted Patient 1, who was already distressed, asking her whether he should tell Karen McGhee, the nurse in charge, that she wanted two males to care for her. She continued to scream, and once she calmed herself down started to repeat words. Patient 1’s care plan was clear that in such a situation staff should repeat words back to her, to help calm her. Matthew Banner sat outside her room and asked her if she liked balloons.

When Olivia Davies, the undercover reporter, asked him why he said that to Patient 1 he said it was “a daft question”, then left. When he returned he asked Patient 1 again if she liked balloons and she continued to scream. He then asked her if she wanted 2, 3, 4 or 5 men to care for her. He also said in front of Patient 1 that Olivia “knows she likes to muff dive”.

Sarah Banner was supervising Patient 1 when she became distressed, hitting herself and screaming. Sarah Banner told her to sit down, while laughing at her. Patient 1 became increasingly distressed, which led to her being restrained by Ryan Fuller and Sarah Banner. Karen McGhee was also present in the room and had a conversation with Patient 1 about her clothing, while she was being restrained. McGhee told Patient 1 that Matthew Banner was on duty tonight, laughing at her. Sarah Banner also threatened Patient 1, saying that her husband would be on duty later, laughing at her. She also encouraged Patient 1 to continue hitting her own face. The Crown submit that she mocked those who stuttered and told Patient 2 she should “have a fucking nap” instead of reading magazines and drinking coffee.

Karen McGhee, is not only charged with threatening Patient 1 with male carers, she was also responsible for supervising and overseeing restraint. The Crown submit that she did not intervene to stop staff degrading and belittling patients while being restrained, and they submit that she punished Patient 4, by instructing staff to remove his belongings, known to provide him comfort, from his room as a punishment. She is the only staff member charged with wilful neglect of a person in care.

Ryan Fuller, a senior member of staff, taunted Patient 4 about his need to take medication. Ms Richardson told the court that the footage clearly shows Ryan Fuller mocking the same patient, whilst restraining him, offering chewing gum around to his colleagues also providing restraint, wearing Patient 4’s glasses while he was being restrained and suggesting that his possessions are removed from his room as punishment. He was heard calling Patient 2 a “bitch” and said when hearing that new patients would be admitted “how much fun he would have with them”.

Ryan Fuller also taught two patients to flip the bird, and when one of them did so when posing for a photograph with him, he told them not to do that and “told the person taking the photograph to delete it saying he would get fucked” if it was seen. The Crown submit that shows he clearly knew what he was doing was “totally inappropriate”.

Niall Mellor, who tended to work one shift, but more if his university studies allowed, was heard saying that Patient 1 was a “retard” and that “the residents are cunts who do not deserve good treatment”. One of Patient 4’s pleasures was listening to music and during conversations with Olivia Davies, Mellor indicated that he’d turned down the volume on Patient 4’s radio repeatedly, winding him up to the degree that caused Patient 4 to chase him out of his room.

Darren Lawton is jointly charged with Ryan Fuller for instructing a patient to lie on the ground while they demonstrated restraint techniques on him, and simulated assault, including a feigned elbow strike and knee strike on him. A couple days later the same two are supervising a different patient, Patient 6, and mock him and simulate masturbation actions towards him. The Crown submit that Darren Lawton also encouraged Patient 6 to flick the bird. At a later point Darren Lawton told Ryan Fuller to stop as Patient 6 might put his hand through a window to get to him.

John Sanderson wound Patient 4 up by plugging and unplugging the phone repeatedly while he was on the phone to his sister. He called Patient 2 a “fat cunt” and was heard to say that he couldn’t wait for his fractured wrist to heal so that he could “deck the cunts”. He also went into Patient 4’s room, taking down a poster, whispering to other staff that he had done so. When Patient 4 challenged him about it, becoming distressed, John Sanderson denied doing so. He then threatened Patient 4 with violence and goaded him, squaring up to Patient 4 and telling him “he’d only get one shot” before leaving the room, turning on the light as he did so, leading to Patient 4’s increased agitation.

Sabah Mahmood was supervising Patient 7 who was distressed, and in her distress threatened to punch Ms Mahmood. She responded by saying “how many times have you tried that?” she continued later in discussion with Patient 7 to tell her that her family were “poison” despite knowing that Patient 7 blamed herself for the death of a relative.

Ms Richardson, for the Crown, said that strategies for de-escalating potential agitation and aggressive behaviour is “well documented within each patient’s care plan and staff knew what to do”.

She continued “It is recognised they are not saints and there must have been times when their patience were sorely stretched” continuing by telling the jury that “your patience will no doubt be stretched tomorrow when you have to listen to Patient 1 screaming, or repeating the same words again and again”.

She continued “The Crown, whilst recognising all of that, submits that the solution was not to name call in return, or to wind up patients whose trigger and flash points were well known. To do so went beyond simply being mean and verbally abusive to the residents and became a criminal offence”.

The trial continues today, when the jury will be shown video footage, and time permitting Olivia Davies will be called to give her evidence.