Whorlton Hall: Accused carer denies threatening or taunting woman

Whorlton Hall has since closed

A carer accused of "threatening" and "taunting" a vulnerable patient at a residential hospital was only ever trying to de-escalate situations, a court has heard.

Nine former workers at Whorlton Hall, near Barnard Castle, County Durham, deny 27 offences arising from an undercover BBC Panorama film in 2019.

Matthew Banner faces six charges relating to a woman with autism

He told Teesside Crown Court he was doing the best job he could.

'Didn't like men'

The court was shown footage filmed on several occasions in January and February 2019 by reporter Olivia Davies, who posed as a health carer at the 17-bed hospital for people with complex emotional and educational needs.

Mr Banner was one of two senior carers who went to a woman's room when she was shouting and screaming while under observation by two female carers, including Ms Davies.

Prosecutors said the woman had a preference for female staff and accused Mr Banner of "threatening" her by saying if she did not calm down more men would turn up.

Prosecutor Anne Richardson questioned why the two female carers moved out of the patient's view with two men, Mr Banner and co-defendant Peter Bennett, taking over talking to the woman.

Mr Banner said the woman had become "unsettled" with the two female carers and it was "usual protocol" to change out the people speaking to the patient "as briefly as possible to try and regain the situation".

'Cruel'

He said he believed the woman said she preferred women as they were easier to attack when she became "aggressive", and jurors have been told by other witnesses that the patient did like men.

Mr Banner was heard on video saying more men would turn up if the woman did not calm down.

He told jurors he was trying to de-escalate the situation by explaining the reality to the woman, adding the aim was to calm her down rather than resort to giving her drugs or physically restraining her.

Ms Richardson also said he was "cruel" and "taunted" the woman by asking her if she liked balloons when she had said she did not.

Mr Banner insisted to jurors balloons were one of the few things the woman did like and she would decorate her clothes with them.

He said he had had no training on how to deal with people with autism but he believed asking her questions about things she liked would calm her down.

Ms Richardson said the strategies did not work and the woman continued screaming.

Mr Banner said it did work as she calmed down eventually.

'Extremely stressful'

He told jurors patients would go from "zero to 10 pretty quick" but getting them to calm back down was more gradual, adding: "There's no quick fix.

"Nothing is instant."

When asked if he had been threatening or taunting the woman, Mr Banner replied: "Absolutely not".

He also denied he had been "cruel".

He admitted some of the conversations with other staff caught on camera had been "inappropriate" but they were not about the patients, could not be heard by the patients and were an attempt to inject humour into an "extremely stressful environment".

Asked if he liked making colleagues laugh, he replied: "I liked staff not to have nightmares when they got home."

'Instantly escalate'

Sara Banner, said staff were attacked by patients "near enough every day" and she suffered injuries from multiple scratches and punches.

She agreed with comments made by Ms Davies earlier in the trial that management was "chaotic", new starters were "thrown in at the deep end", it was the "frontline" and took a "massive toll on people".

Mrs Banner, who met her husband and co-defendant Matthew while working at Whorlton Hall, said staff would "get down" and "depressed", adding: "Even just leaving the shift and going home you can't switch off."

Two of her charges relate to the same woman and a third to a male patient.

"Did you inexcusably and cruelly ill-treat these patients?" her lawyer Jonathan Walker asked.

"No," Mrs Banner replied.

She said the female patient was "very unpredictable" and would "scream constantly" in an "ear-piercing way".

Jurors were shown a clip in which Mrs Banner said she would not repeat words back to the woman as the patient requested.

Mrs Banner told jurors some carers would "repeat" but many wouldn't because sometimes it could "instantly escalate" the woman's shouting and screaming, adding: "It's sometimes pot luck."

She admitted she had been a "bit short" when discussing patients with colleagues but added: "I would never want to cause any harm or ill feeling or make the patients feel unsafe in anyway.

"At the end of the day that place is their home and we are there to try and support them."

Jurors were shown a clip of the woman hitting her own face and Mrs Banner, who was attempting to fill in a report, saying to her: "Carry on doing that, enjoy."

Mr Walker said prosecutors would claim she was trying to "goad" the woman into harming herself, but Mrs Banner said she was using a "distraction technique" and "reverse psychology" which worked as the woman immediately stopped hitting her face.

'Took items'

Mrs Banner also faced an allegation that she took items from a male patient's room as "punishment" then paraded the goods past him to "cause him distress" while he was being restrained by staff following a violent outburst, another incident captured on Ms Davies' covert camera.

She told jurors she and Ms Davies removed several items including razors, a clock and CD player as they could have posed a risk or been used as weapons if the agitated man broke them.

She said she had to take the seized items to an office and the only way to get there was past the restrained man.

Mrs Banner said the possessions were not taken as "punishment" or to "demean" or "distress".

The nine accused face the following number of charges of ill-treatment of a person in care:

• John Sanderson, 25, of Cambridge Avenue, Willington - two

• Darren Lawton, 47, of Miners Crescent, Darlington - two

• Niall Mellor, 26, of Lingmell Dene, Coundon, Bishop Auckland - two

• Sara Banner, 33, of Faulkner Road, Newton Aycliffe - three

• Matthew Banner, 43, of the same address - six

• Ryan Fuller, 26, of Deerbolt Bank, Barnard Castle - 10

• Sabah Mahmood, 27, of Woodland Crescent, Kelloe - one

• Peter Bennett, 52, of Redworth Road, Billingham - three

• Karen McGhee, 54, of Wildair Close, Darlington - two

The trial continues.