Winterbourne View: Sentencing Begins
The sentencing of 11 care workers who admitted maltreating patients at a private hospital has begun at Bristol Crown Court.
The defendants were detained after secret filming by BBC Panorama at Winterbourne View, near Bristol.
They face 38 charges of either neglect or ill-treatment of people with severe learning difficulties.
Judge Neil Ford QC, the Recorder of Bristol, said the sentencing hearing could last up to five days.
During five weeks spent filming undercover, a Panorama reporter captured footage of some of the hospital’s most vulnerable patients being repeatedly pinned down, slapped, dragged into showers while fully clothed, taunted and teased.
A serious case review published in August condemned the hospital’s owner, Castlebeck, for putting profits before care.
Castlebeck said the criticisms in the report were being “actively addressed”.
The defendants are:
Michael Ezenagu, 29, from Shepherds Bush, west London; Wayne Rogers, 31, of Kingswood; Alison Dove, 24, of Kingswood; Graham Doyle, 25, of Patchway; Jason Gardiner, 44, of Hartcliffe; Daniel Brake, 27, of Downend; Holly Laura Draper, 23, of Mangotsfield; Charlotte Justine Cotterell, 21, from Yate and Neil Ferguson, 27, of Emerson Green have all admitted ill-treating patients in their care.
Sooaklingum Appoo, 58, of Downend, and Kelvin Fore, 33, from Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to wilfully neglecting patients in their care.
All are currently on bail with the condition that they are not allowed to work or seek work with vulnerable people.
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