Jailed: Care worker who attacked 70-year-old dementia patient
A nursing home assistant who elbowed a dementia patient in the throat and shoved two others into their seats has been locked up.
Neil Prince worked at Coach House Nursing Home in Goldthorn Hill, Wolverhampton.
The 42-year-old mistreated three patients, all of whom have mental health issues.
He elbowed one resident - a 70-year-old ex-boxer with severe dementia - in the throat and pushed two others down into their chairs after losing his temper because they were 'wandering around'.
Prince, from Masefield Road, Low Hill, was sacked from the home and has now been jailed for nine months.
One of his former colleagues, Jamie Lee-Hall gave evidence during his trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Speaking about the incident with the former boxer, she said: "Neil put his knee across the chest or stomach of the man who was sitting down, held his arms and hit him with his elbow several times.
"Neil got off him and shouted 'if you ever f****** lay a hand on me again you will get worse'. I was so shocked I did not know what to say or do."
The incident started when Prince knocked a half-eaten sandwich out of the hand of the victim who then inadvertently struck him in the face while trying to hang on to the food.
The flare-up on June 24 last year came just 10 days days after Prince had frogmarched two other residents down a corridor and pushed them into chairs after becoming irritated by the way they were 'wandering around.' One was in his 70s and the other his 60s. Both had dementia while the younger man also showed psychopathic tendencies.
Nursing home bosses were not informed of this incident until after the other ill treatment had occurred. Police were called in an after an internal investigation.
In September, a jury found Prince guilty of three charges of ill-treating a person without mental capacity. He had denied all the offences.
During his sentencing: Judge Simon Eyre QC said: "I accept that these short incidents are a matter of you losing your temper rather than sustained bullying.
"But you were violent to those in your care. They were aged and suffering from dementia and in that home to be cared for, not struck, by those who were supposed to be caring for them."
Mr John Brotherton, defending, said it was a 'momentary loss of control' in Prince's four years working at the home.
"Fortunately the injuries were not of the most serious kind," he added.
