Bullying Rotherham care boss and assistant jailed for abuse

Barbara Sykes and Julie Paul-Slack had denied the abuse charges during their trial at Sheffield Crown Court

A "bullying and domineering" boss and her assistant who both abused people with learning difficulties at a day care centre have been jailed.

Manager Barbara Sykes and Julie Paul-Slack ill-treated and neglected users of the Reach Day Centre in Rotherham between June 2011 and October 2017.

At Sheffield Crown Court, Sykes was handed a six-month jail term while Paul-Slack was jailed for four months.

Judge Michael Slater described their actions as "abhorrent and despicable".

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The court had earlier heard that Sykes had dragged a woman with cerebral palsy off her chair by her legs in one incident.

Sykes, of Church Street, Rawmarsh, Rotherham, did not provide the "utmost degree of specialised and compassionate care" needed by the day centre's users, the judge said.

Meanwhile, addressing Paul-Slack, of Middle Lane, Clifton, Rotherham, the judge said she had "failed" to report the abuse carried out by Sykes.

Judge Slater told the pair: "In each of your cases, the behaviour in which you've been convicted is a gross abuse of trust, for which the only appropriate punishment is immediate imprisonment.

"To abuse vulnerable individuals having been entrusted with their care is both abhorrent and despicable."

'Humiliation and distress'

During the seven-week trial, jurors heard Sykes pulled a woman off her chair before dragging her outside where she was left "for a period of time".

Staff at the facility, based at the Elliott Centre in Badsley Moor Lane, had to rush to protect the woman's head from hitting a metal doorplate as she was being dragged.

Judge Slater said Sykes had caused the woman, one of the most challenging users of the centre, a great deal of humiliation and distress, leaving other staff members in "disbelieving shock".

"Fortunately she was not physically injured by what you did. Whether it caused her lasting mental damage can't be ascertained," he added.

The court also heard staff were scared to report incidents or raise issues with their manager.

In December, Sykes was convicted of six charges of ill-treatment, while assistant manager Paul-Slack was found guilty of wilful neglect.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Sykes ruled "with an iron rod" and had "bullied and routinely humiliated" both her staff and service users.

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