Two staff members at a specialist hospital unit who were filmed mistreating vulnerable patients have challenged their convictions at the Court of Appeal.

Peter Bennett, 55, and Matthew Banner, 44, were found guilty of ill-treatment of patients at Whorlton Hall, a 17-bed independent unit for people with complex needs near Barnard Castle, County Durham, and sentenced at Teesside Crown Court in January.

The men were recorded by undercover BBC Panorama reporter Olivia Davies, who used a hidden camera to expose the poor treatment the patients received behind the closed doors of the hospital unit in 2019.

At a hearing in London today (Friday, September 13), lawyers representing Bennett and Banner challenged the two men’s convictions, arguing their actions “did not meet the test for ill-treatment”.

Peter Bennett.Peter Bennett. (Image: The Northern Echo)

Lord Justice Singh, sitting alongside Mrs Justice May and Mr Justice Griffiths, said judges would give their ruling over the appeals at a later date.

Bennett and Banner were both sentenced to four-month jail terms, suspended for 18 months, on two and five charges of ill-treatment respectively.

At their trial last year, the court was told staff at Whorlton Hall supported patients who were detained under the Mental Health Act and who required 24-hour care.

Prosecutors said there appeared to have been a “culture of inappropriate behaviour”, with claims there was “minimal training”, the hall was understaffed and that caring for patients was “extremely challenging”.

Matthew Banner.Matthew Banner. (Image: The Northern Echo)

The trial was told patients were distressed as they were verbally abused, mocked and wound up by some of the staff at the hospital.

During their sentencing hearing, the court heard that in video footage Bennett caused distress to one patient with a fear of balloons and spoke in French to another patient with communication problems before intimidating her.

The sentencing hearing was also told that Banner goaded the same patient with balloons and threatened to bring in male carers for her, despite knowing she preferred female staff.

David Callan, representing Bennett, said on Friday his client “may not have been professional in twanging a balloon” in front of the patient, but this was “not ill-treatment”.

On Bennett’s decision to speak French to the other patient, Mr Callan added: “It may be that he was losing his patience with the patient.

“This is extremely demanding work and if the bar is put so low to turn what might be unprofessional behaviour into a crime, I do not think that is a sensible development of the law.”

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Stephen Constantine, representing Banner, said: “It cannot surely be that every kind of unfavourable treatment, rough handling or unsympathetic dealings, can necessarily amount to ill-treatment.”

He added: “There has to be situations where an individual might be unsympathetic for a variety of reasons but that doesn’t mean, per se, it is ill-treatment.”

Anne Richardson, representing the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said it did not fall on prosecutors to “prove there was a physical or mental injury towards the person it has impacted”, just that ill-treatment had occurred.

Bennett and Banner were convicted alongside Ryan Fuller, then 27, of Barnard Castle, and John Sanderson, then 26, of Willington, who were also found guilty of ill-treatment charges.

A number of other staff charged with ill-treatment offences were cleared by jurors.