Two women appeared in court yesterday after a man with a mental age of six was abandoned on a minibus for 12 hours.

Catherine Flowers, aged 56, of Rangeways Road, Kingswinford, and Donna Reid, 31, of Peak Road, Stourbridge, are each facing a charge of ill-treating or wilfully neglecting a person without capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

They were arrested after disabled Eroll Collins, 51, sparked a police hunt when he failed to arrive back at the care home where he lives in Dudley.

He was found abandoned in the minibus that should have returned him to Grange House following a six-hour search last July.

He had been picked to be taken to the Pulse Centre in Walsall, but did not arrive back at Grange House as expected later on.

A major search was launched and he was officially reported missing at 10pm before finally being discovered in the unlocked van parked at the Pulse depot at Stourbridge.

The case was adjourned until July 11.