Up to 200 hours of covert footage filmed at Whorlton Hall

Olivia Davies worked at Whorlton Hall, near Barnard Castle, for several weeks after concerns were raised about the quality of care being given to vulnerable patients.

The reporter captured the defendants tormenting one distressed patient who was seen to scream in anguish and hit herself as staff encouraged her or threatened to remove all female staff.

Giving evidence at Teesside Crown Court, she said she had undergone training with Cygnet Health Care, the company which ran the centre, before taking on a job in December 2018.

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Six men and three women were caught on camera abusing their positions, according to the prosecution.

Miss Davies said told jurors how she worked 12-hour shifts on the unit five or six days a week until she left at the beginning of March.

She said she filmed a video diary after every shift at the home for patients with complex medical needs, which has since been closed down.

Whorlton Hall

Earlier in the trial, jurors watched a 17-minute clip of Matthew Banner and Peter Bennett allegedly aggravating the patient by talking about balloons, despite them knowing that it was a trigger for her behaviour and the woman could be heard screaming in distress and agitation.

The patient was also known to prefer woman carrying out her observations and could become very distressed if they were carried out by men.

Josh Normanton, representing nurse Karen McGhee, cross-examined the witness about the 200 hours of footage she captured during her time on duty and in her video diaries.

Miss Davies admitted that the care plans for the patients was a ‘grey area’ as some of their conditions were so complex it would have been impossible to record them all.

Asked whether she had written anything in the patient’s notes about her becoming distressed when she was being observed by two men, the witness conceded that she hadn’t.

The nine defendants arriving at either Teesside Crown Court or Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court (Image: The Northern Echo)

Mr Normanton asked: “Wasn’t that a breach of your obligations as a support worker?” She simply replied: “No.”

Jurors heard how the footage was used in a Panorama documentary exposing the alleged psychological abuse of vulnerable patients with learning disabilities or autism.

The defendants face a total of 27 offences after the reporter used a hidden camera at the 17-bed independent unit for people with complex needs in January and February 2019.

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The accused are:

• John Sanderson, 25, of Cambridge Avenue, Willington, faces two charges of care worker ill-treatment or wilful neglect of an individual on February 2 and 25, 2019.

• Darren Mark Lawton, 47, of Miners Crescent, Darlington, by virtue of being a care worker, allegedly ill-treated or wilfully neglected a patient on January 27, 2019, and faces the same charge relating to a different patient on February 2.

• Niall Mellor, 26, of Lingmell Dene, Coundon, Bishop Auckland, is accused of the ill-treatment or wilful neglect of a patient on two occasions on January 20 and 24, 2019.

• Sarah Banner, 33, from Faulkner Road, Newton Aycliffe, stands accused of three charges of ill-treatment or neglect of a female in her care on January 24 and of a male patient the following day.

• Matthew Banner, 43, of the same Newton Aycliffe address, faced six charges all relating to the same patient at Whorlton Hall on separate occasions between January 6 and February 22.

• Ryan Fuller, 27, from of Deerbolt Bank, Barnard Castle, faced ten charges of ill-treatment or wilful neglect against six different patients January 19 and February 2.

• Sabah Mahmood, 27, of Woodland Crescent, Kelloe, is accused of, by virtue of being a care worker, ill-treating or wilfully neglecting a male patient on January 4, 2019.

• Peter Bennett, 53, of Redworth Road, Billingham, faced three charges in total relating to two female patients, on January 6 and February 24.

• Karen McGhee, 54, from Wildair Close, Darlington, faced a total of four charges relating to a male and a female patient which were all said to have happened in January 2019.

The trial continues.