Defence pleas in mitigation Next up counsel for the defendants offered pleas in mitigation. These are things that might reduce a sentence, difficulties defendants were or are facing, caring responsibilities, remorse and so on. Peter Bennett Mr Callan started by returning to the authorities discussed by Ms Richardson and HHJ Smith when discussing sentence guidelines. […]
Almost nine months after they were convicted, four defendants, Peter Bennett, Matthew Banner, Ryan Fuller and John Sanderson, who were all former care workers at Whorlton Hall were in court in Teeside today for their sentencing hearing. Peter Bennett was found guilty on two counts, Matthew Banner on five counts, Ryan Fuller on two counts […]
Almost nine months after they were convicted, four defendants, Peter Bennett, Matthew Banner, Ryan Fuller and John Sanderson, who were all former care workers at Whorlton Hall were in court in Teeside today for their sentencing hearing. Peter Bennett was found guilty on two counts, Matthew Banner on five counts, Ryan Fuller on two counts […]
There were a smaller number of reports published in November than previous months, but I’ll highlight the ones that were providing support to autistic and learning disabled people. I’m not covering providers that have since closed down, because I’ll do all of those later. First up, Ashfield Care Homes Limited in New Milton, Hampshire. This […]
Still playing catch up, have moved to a sprinkling of reports of inadequate care for autistic people and people with a learning disability, published in October 2023. We’ll start with our friends Achieve Together, I’ve written about their inadequate care before here, here and here. Remember they’re the ones that claim they “endeavour to be […]
Eighteen months ago, in July 2022, I started curating on this website reports published by CQC into care and support for learning disabled and autistic people, that was rated as outstanding or inadequate. In this post I’ll share some of the recently published low lights. One of the things I feel that needs acknowledging before […]
We welcome the Jury’s findings and feel they got a real sense of who Jessie was, of all her difficulties, and the fight as parents that we have had with health services and East Sussex County Council, since 2016. Jessie was often misunderstood and badly treated since she was 14. This added layers of traumatic […]
The coroner called the jury back to court shortly before 5pm to see what position they were in and how much more time they thought they needed for deliberations. Coroner: Members of the jury I wonder if the foreman or forelady could stand please They do Coroner: Members of the jury you’ve now been deliberating […]
Before lunch on Day 9 the coroner summed up the evidence in Jessie’s inquest. She explained to the jury what their role entailed, what findings they needed to make and talked them through the record of inquest. The coroner told the jury that their findings must be based solely on what they heard in court […]
The jury came into court at 11am on Day 9 of Jessie’s inquest, on Friday 1 December. The coroner apologised for keeping them waiting and told them that they would hear some further evidence, following which they would retire to consider, after she had summed up all the evidence to them. The coroner said that […]