Joan Barnett, 58, scoffed the food of vulnerable residents at Redholme Memory Care nursing home in Carnatic Road, Liverpool (Picture: Liverpool Echo)

A carer was filmed eating the food of vulnerable residents and then falsely filled in forms to say they had eaten their meals.

Joan Barnett, 58, was only caught out when one of her colleagues became suspicious after she found the remains of meals washed down sinks, the Liverpool Echo reported.

Her colleague, Demi Dooley, also spotted Barnett manhandling 54-year-old Denise Fagan, who has early onset dementia, when giving her a shower.

She put her mobile phone by a sink, which recorded Barnett giving 89-year-old Joyce Curtis ‘a violent push to the head’.


The shocking video showed Barnett scoffing down a two-course meal meant for hungry Mrs Curtis, who had Alzheimer’s disease and was living at Redholme Memory Care nursing home in Carnatic Road, Liverpool.



Licking her lips after polishing off apple pie and custard, Barnett then filled in a form saying the victim had taken food and liquid.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Barnett’s actions were ‘disgusting, heartless and cruel’ (Picture: PA)

The care home owner later confronted the mum-of-two over her treatment of Mrs Curtis, who has since died.

The court heard that Barnett, of Montrose Road, Old Swan, Liverpool, replied: ‘She doesn’t eat food anyway – it’s a waste of food.’

Miss Dooley first discovered food in sinks last year, but knew many residents couldn’t move and therefore would not have been responsible.

On April 9, 2018, she was on duty with Barnett, when they gave Mrs Fagan a shower, after which they took her to the bathroom by wheelchair.

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Miss Dooley went to get clothes for Mrs Fagan, but returned to find Barnett ‘roughly’ grabbing the victim by the shoulders and pushing her back to wash her hair.

Barnett later admitted using ‘more force than was necessary and reasonable’, which resulted in ‘a temporary reddening of the neck area’.

She denied placing her hands around Mrs Fagan’s throat.

Trevor Parry-Jones, prosecuting, said Miss Dooley was ‘extremely concerned’ and had noticed residents seemed ‘reticent’ around Barnett, avoiding eye contact.

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He said: ‘She didn’t know what to do. Mrs Barnett was a forceful individual, whom she was frightened of.’

Mrs Fagan’s husband said his wife, a registered nurse, used to work at Redholme and wanted to live there because she ‘knew how good it was’.

Recorder David Swinnerton said: ‘You left her to starve and dehydrate that day effectively, because you gave her no food, you gave her no liquids.’

Jailing Barnett for 10 months, he added: ‘You’ve brought disgrace upon yourself.’

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