The final defendant, who faces one charge, Count 27, was called to give her evidence by her counsel, Mr Rooney. In response to questions she told the court that she was 27, had never been charged with any criminal offence before this one, had never been cautioned by the police and was a person of […]
19 April 2023 The penultimate defendant, John Sanderson, was called to give evidence after the morning break. He gave an affirmation and his counsel, Mr Dryden, started by asking him to face the jury when giving his evidence. MrD: You are charged with two counts of ill-treatment involving the patient or service user, Patient 4. […]
18 April 2023 The seventh defendant to give their evidence to the court was Darren Lawton. His counsel, Ms Brown, started by handing out an additional small bundle and a discussion followed about where it should be placed in the files. Ms Brown said to Mr Lawton that she’d ask him questions grouped around topics. […]
17 April 2023 Niall Mellor was the sixth of the nine defendants to give his evidence. Mr Patton, his counsel, took him through his examination in chief, starting after lunch. Mr Patton confirmed that one of the two charges against Mr Mellor, Count 17 had been amended. HHJ Smith told the court that instead of […]
14 April 2023 The fifth defendant to give their evidence to the court was Ryan Fuller. Mr Fuller is charged with 10 counts of ill-treatment. Mr Knox, counsel for Mr Fuller, started by asking him about his background. Mr Fuller told the court he was 27, agreed that he was a man of good character […]
13 April 2023 The fourth defendant to give evidence was the Senior Staff Nurse Karen McGhee. Her counsel, Mr Normanton, started by providing additional transcripts for additional video clips he would show, and one page of additional agreed facts. In response to questions from Mr Normanton the court heard that Mrs McGhee was 54 and […]
12 April 2023 Sarah Banner was the third defendant to give evidence to the court. HHJ Smith told the jury that he’d had a discussion with Ms Banner’s counsel, Mr Walker, and it would help her if she were seated to give her evidence. HHJ Smith said that she would need to keep her voice […]
11 April 2023 The second defendant to give evidence to the court was Matthew Banner. He told the court that he was now 43 and asked by his counsel, Mr Constantine, whether he could confirm he was a man of good character he responded “certainly am, yes”. Asked about his work experience and background before […]
The jury were brought into court today at 10:30 with HHJ Smith apologising for the slight delay in starting due to technical difficulties that a technical team were trying to solve. [The audio and picture on the remote link has been a little patchy all day, especially at the start of the morning]. HHJ Smith […]
Yesterday the jury weren’t present as it was taken up with legal submissions, and first thing this morning HHJ Smith made a ruling in relation to those submissions. The jury were brought into court shortly after 11:30am today. HHJ Smith thanked them for their patience and understanding, and explained that it is not always easy […]