Abusive Pontefract care home workers caught on CCTV Published duration 29 August 2012

image caption Mrs Robinson's family said she became frightened and cried when they tried to leave the home

A care assistant has been jailed for the "sickening" mistreatment of an 89-year-old woman whose family recorded the abuse on a hidden camera.

Emma Bryan, 29, hit and shook Ivy Robinson and verbally abused her at Oakfoss House Residential Care Home in Pontefract, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Bryan, of Harewood Avenue, Pontefract, was jailed for four months.

Colleague Katherine Wallis, 45, was given a 12-month community order after also admitting neglect.

The care home's owner said after the hearing it was "devastated" to learn of the ill-treatment and had immediately contacted police.

Bryan admitted five counts of wilful neglect or ill-treatment while Wallis, of Rhyl Street, Featherstone, admitted one count of the same offence.

The court heard the pair dragged Mrs Robinson across her bedroom floor which made her scream in pain before Wallis threatened her with violence.

The elderly woman's family captured the five days of abuse in November last year on a CCTV camera concealed in an alarm clock after they noticed she was bruised and traumatised.

Richard Butters, prosecuting, said Bryan was filmed swearing at Mrs Robinson and calling her a "horrible old lady".

The footage also revealed she had failed to give Mrs Robinson her medicine properly and showed her striking her before swearing at her again.

The judge described Bryan and Wallis's actions as "unforgivable and unacceptable neglect and ill-treatment".

Following the sentencing, Mrs Robinson's daughter and son-in-law, Angela and Simon Wood, said: "To see what Mum was subjected to sickened and horrified us, this will never leave our memories; moreover we feel as though we have let Mum down.

'Abhorrent' behaviour

"The decision to install the CCTV came as a last resort and was a culmination of various incidents over a period of months that could not be explained by staff at Oakfoss.

"The final trigger was when Mum became agitated and frightened when it came time for us to leave on an evening.

"She would cry and ask us not to leave. No one knows how long this abuse and neglect had been going on for."

The couple said Mrs Robinson may be moved out of Oakfoss House, dependent on a medical assessment, and they were considering taking legal action against the home's owner, Denestar Limited.

Gaynor Saunders, the company's managing director, said: "Providing our residents with excellent care and quality of life is my number one priority.

"I was devastated to learn that two long-standing, experienced employees who'd been given extensive training in caring for and safeguarding elderly and vulnerable people had behaved in such an abhorrent way.

"I immediately notified the police, social services and the Care Quality Commission and have worked closely with them to ensure the former employees involved face the severest of consequences for their actions.