Brutal carer convicted of ill-treating dementia residents (From Runcorn and Widnes World)

Widnes mum Jeanette Judge found guilty on six charges of cruelty

6:30pm Wednesday 1st February 2012 in News

A BRUTAL carer was convicted of ill treating six frail residents at a Widnes Care Home on Monday at Chester Crown Court.

Jeanette Judge, aged 32, of Doward Street, Widnes, was branded a bully by the heartbroken daughter of a 92-year-old victim who was fastened into bed so tightly, she became breathless and had a panic attack.

A jury took just over an hour to unanimously return guilty verdicts on all six charges after mother-of-two Judge denied the abuse during a five day trial.

The victims were all dementia sufferers at Ferndale Mews Care Home in St Michael’s Road, Ditton.

Senior carer Judge dragged two elderly women along a corridor, kicking their heels from behind, to make them walk “like a rag doll”, prosecutor Simon Mills told the jury.

She grabbed one old lady so roughly, she banged her head on a bedstead.

She aggressively sat on another woman to get her to take eye drops.

She screamed at residents, forcing them to take their medication by prising open their mouths.

Edith Mulligan, aged 75, was shocked to discover her mum, Edith Smith, who died last August, had been abused.

She said:”It has been traumatic.

“She forced medication down her. She was a bully.

“It has caused us upset.

“I wonder what she would have done if it had been her mum?”

She said her mum had been frightened of going into her room.

Mrs Mulligan said: “She said: ‘It’s wicked in there’. She had Alzheimer’s and couldn’t explain.

“Now I realise something had gone wrong but she couldn’t tell us.

“ It’s so sad to think we had looked after her so well.

“Before she was ill, mum was always so beautifully dressed. She would never go out without her hair being done. She was really lovely.

“I spent every afternoon with her but she needed 24 hour care.

“I want to praise the carers who did report it. It must be an awful thing to grouse on your workmate.

“I don’t think Judge should have been in this job. I hope the sentence fits the crime.”

DC Adam Bolger, who investigated the case, said: “Judge showed little or no compassion and respect for the elderly residents she was meant to be caring for. She was in a position of trust and she broke that trust causing considerable distress to the victims and their families.

“Following the allegations, a police investigation was launched resulting in a catalogue of evidence being compiled from witnesses including fellow staff members.

“This painted a picture of verbal and physical abuse towards residents at the hands of the defendant.

“Judge abused her position as a carer and exploited the vulnerabilities of her victims who were defenceless and not able to tell anyone what was going on.

“This has been an extremely upsetting experience for all those involved and I hope that the guilty verdict will give the victims and their families some sort of closure and allow them to move on with their lives.”

Judge will be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on March 2.

Edith Smith