Care home workers who tormented dementia patients by attacking their therapy dolls burst into tears as they are jailed
- Shauna Higgin, 20, and Victoria Johnson, 23, taunted dementia patients
- Videos and photos shared on WhatsApp of pair torturing therapeutic dolls
- Some vulnerable residents come to see the toys as their own real children
- Higgin has been jailed for 13 months and Johnson was jailed for 12 months
Two care workers have been jailed after they admitted torturing dolls designed to provide comfort for dementia patients at a care home.
Shauna Higgin, 20, and Victoria Johnson, 23, shared video clips and photos of them harming the dolls, cruelly taunting elderly patients who care for them like their own babies.
Police launched an investigation after images of a baby doll being boiled in a cooking pot, another being hanged by its neck out of a window and one being put in a tumble drier emerged earlier this year.
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Victoria Johnson (left, leaving court) was jailed for 12 months, while Shauna Higgin (right, outside court), was ordered to serve 13 months in youth detention
In one photo, titled 'Tug of War', Higgin pulls the doll off one distressed elderly woman who holds on with her hands to stop it being snatched away.
And on another occasion the mother of one shouted, 'Die baby! Die' while flinging a doll to the floor as Johnson filmed her.
In another video taken on Higgen's mobile phone, which was seized by police, the pair are seen laughing at an elderly Asian resident, who is asked if her mother's name is 'Chapati'.
Passing sentence, judge Andrew Lowcock said: 'When families take the difficult decision to place loved ones in a care home they expect the bare minimum that loved ones will be treated with dignity and respect.
'You treated them as playthings, as the butt of your tasteless jokes, your behaviour bullied and your victims could not fight back. These cruel offences can only be met with custodial sentences.'
Shocking video and photographs show Shauna Higgin goading patients by torturing dolls
The cruel photos show Higgin snatching one of the dolls from a frail resident
Both defendants admitted two counts of wilful neglect or ill treatment of elderly residents between December 1 and 26 last year, while working as care workers at Ashbourne House Nursing Home in Middleton, Greater Manchester.
Higgin, of Elliot Walk, Middleton, was ordered to serve 13 months in youth detention and Johnson, of Cowlishaw Lane, Oldham, jailed for 12 months.
Both women burst into tears as they were jailed at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester. Members of their families stood open mouthed in the public gallery as Judge Lowcock sent them down.
The footage and pictures came to light after a whistleblower sent them to a local newspaper and police were called in January.
The whistleblower who exposed the alleged abuse said at the time: ‘Some of these residents think the dolls are real babies. I’ve no doubt this really upset some of them. These two people shouldn’t be working in the care sector.
‘The picture of the elderly relative having the doll snatched from her hands is horrible – you could see the distress on her face.’
Images of a baby doll being boiled in a cooking pot, another being hanged and one being put in a tumble drier emerged
Prosecutor Gavin Howie told the court that in November last year both defendants and other care workers set up a WhatsApp group and shortly after photos and videos of a comfort doll were shown in 'various situations'.
These included the doll being hung by its neck, in a tumble dryer, a cooking pot, submerged in a fish tank and being dragged along a corridor by Higgin.
She was also filmed flinging the baby near the nurses station as a resident sat nearby and another photo showed Higgin pulling the doll away from one resident.
The resident's daughter felt 'sick' and broke down in tears when she saw the image of her mother's abuse, the court heard.
She said her mother got a lot of comfort from using the doll, adding it was ‘something tangible she can care for’.
She said: ‘mum may not recall it, but as a family we were left devastated and feeling sick’.
Ashbourne House Nursing Home is now in special measures after critical reports following visits by Care Quality Commission inspectors who rated its services inadequate
Both defendants admitted two counts of wilful neglect or ill treatment of elderly residents
John Marsh, mitigating for Higgin, said her behaviour had been 'immature' and she had received death threats after the case was reported by the media.
Steven Sullivan, for Johnson, said she was now receiving counselling for depression, adding: 'This offence was borne out of immaturity, thoughtlessness and irresponsibility, but not of malice.'
Judge Lowcock ordered prison authorities to keep a watch on Johnson as she begins her time in jail.
This is believed to be one of the first cases to be prosecuted under new legislation brought in last year targeted specifically at care workers who mistreat patients or residents.
The 29-bed home, run by Silverdale Care Homes, cares for people with dementia and Alzheimer's disease and is now in special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission in June.
A spokesman for Silverdale Care Homes declined to comment.
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