Whorlton Hall: Nurse removed patient's CDs for safety

Whorlton Hall has since closed

A nurse accused of removing a vulnerable patient's music for "punishment" said the possessions were taken for safety.

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

Karen McGhee, the fourth defendant to give evidence, told Teesside Crown Court the man could use CDs as weapons.

She said the man was "extremely unpredictable" and would attack staff.

Jurors were shown video filmed by undercover reporter Olivia Davies which prosecutors claimed showed the nine accused being "cruel" to patients by making "threats" and "taunts".

The patients were sectioned and had "little or no control over their own life," prosecutor Anne Richardson previously said.

'Liked 1980s music'

Ms McGhee faces two charges, one of which claims she "ill-treated" a male patient by ordering personal possessions be taken from his room as "punishment".

In the video, the man could be seen being restrained in a corridor by several staff after shouting, swearing and moving to attack one.

Ms McGhee could be heard ordering items including "music" be removed from his room, with co-accused Sara Banner and Ms Davies then taking a CD player, clock and razors.

The court heard the man, who had extremely complex behavioural needs, really liked his CD players and 1980s music CDs.

Ms McGhee said on previous occasions he had snapped CDs and tried to use them to attack staff and other patients.

She said he posed an especially high risk to women and was only supposed to be looked after by male carers, requiring constant supervision by two people.

'Understood his actions'

On one occasion he gave her a black eye, several times he kicked her legs and he also made multiple threats to "rape" her, the court heard.

Ms McGhee's lawyer Josh Normanton asked if those incidents "affected" the way Ms McGhee felt about the man.

"No it didn't," she replied.

When he was having an escalation, staff would take away anything he "could throw or use as a weapon", she said.

Once he calmed down he would always be given the items back, she said, and that could happen within minutes.

Mr Normanton said prosecutors might allege she took his music to "punish or antagonise him", to which Ms McGhee replied: "No, why would I do that?"

She said it could be "tough going" for staff and she was "a human", and some of her comments to the man were for him to "take some responsibility for his actions".

She said she was "firm" with the man but he "had the capacity to understand his actions".

'Headbutted'

The fifth defendant Ryan Fuller, who faces 10 charges relating to ill-treatment of five patients, said staffing levels were not good with a lot of agency staff relied upon.

Some of the patients were difficult and dangerous, he said, and "like everybody" they had some staff they liked and others they did not.

He said Whorlton Hall tried to accommodate patients' preferences as much as possible but getting the staff became "quite a problem".

Mr Fuller, 27, said being assaulted was a fairly regular occurrence from scratches and being lightly hit to being "headbutted, thrown across the room and having wardrobes tipped on to you".

Of the first patient he is said to have ill-treated, a woman with autism who was said to prefer female carers to male ones, Mr Fuller said he had a "good relationship" with her.

Mr Fuller's lawyer Christopher Knox asked if there was a "magic recipe" to calm the woman when she became agitated and started screaming at staff, to which the former senior health carer said: "No."

"Was she pretty formidable when she lost control?" Mr Knox asked.

"Yes," Mr Fuller said, adding it was "trial and error" trying to work out how to de-escalate her behaviour.

Two of his charges relate to another woman who used sign language to communicate, the court heard, with prosecutors alleging he ill-treated her by teaching her how to make swearing gestures.

Mr Fuller said he "got on really well" with her and was one of her keyworkers", meaning he would organise Christmas and birthday presents for her.

He said she could be "very violent" especially with new members of staff when they didn't understand her, adding she would "bite, pull hair" and pushed a member of staff down the stairs.

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, 27, 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.