Jail for sadistic care staff who filmed abuse of elderly patients

Jolene Hullah, Tanzeela Safdar and Paul Poole stared straight ahead as a shocked courtroom watched the recorded phone footage of the residents of The Dales care home, in Bradford, being degraded.

The trio, whose jeers were captured on the videos showing the pensioners' distress, tried to avoid watching the screens showing the abuse of 86-year-old Kenneth Costigan and 99-year-old Edith Askham who has since died.

The judge, Recorder Richard Mansell QC, told them: "In these despicable acts of abuse you stripped Mrs Askham and Mr Costigan of their dignity for your own amusement and gratification.

"Those who sat in court today and watched video footage recorded on your mobile phones will have felt appalled by your sick conduct."

The first set of footage shown to the court showed Alzheimer's sufferer Mr Costigan sitting in a chair being taunted as Hullah, who was 19 at the time, records what is happening to him.

This footage, shot in February 2009, shows the vulnerable pensioner being goaded into swearing and having the phone pushed in his face.

At another point, the mobile is pushed in Mr Costigan's mouth.

Footage filmed three days later shows Mr Costigan being provoked into grabbing Safdar and being assaulted as a result.

Jonathan Sharp, prosecuting, said: "He does grab her (Safdar's) arm at which Hullah screams 'get off her now' and then pulls at his right thumb in a way that will have induced considerable pain.

"When he releases Safdar's arm then Safdar tries to grab his nose.

"He flails at her for several seconds. He holds his head in his hands and is plainly distressed."

Describing another part of the footage, Mr Sharp said: "Hullah focuses in on his facial expression, which is one of stark terror.

"He tries to push Safdar away, flailing at her, and then he is provoked into biting her.

"Safdar screams, Hullah says 'do that again if you dare' and strikes out at Mr Costigan several times while he is cowering."

The court heard how another incident, recorded in December 2008, involved Safdar and a woman called Hannah Parveen, who is believed to have fled to Pakistan, abusing Mrs Askham. She died just over a year later, aged 100.

This footage shows the elderly victim in her nightclothes on the floor clearly in distress.

Mr Sharp told the judge: "She is holding out her arms for help. She repeats 'help me' and 'I am frightened'.

"Safdar and Parveen do nothing. Instead they are audibly amused by Mrs Askham's position and helplessness. The phone is used to record Mrs Askham's indignity and phone is thrust into her face."

The abuse came to light after recordings on Hullah's phone were seen by a male cousin who was so disgusted he alerted the Dales management.

The judge stressed that the Bupa-run care home owners and management were in no way to blame for what happened.

When Jayne Beckett, defending Hullah, tried to suggest her client may not have had adequate training Recorder Mansell riposted: "You don't need to be trained in ordinary human decency."

The judge said there was a tendency in "general life now" for "the first instinct of people who have done something wrong to cast blame elsewhere" and said he was unimpressed by mitigation that sought to do so.

Poole, of Upper Rushton Road, Bradford Moor; Hullah, of Langdale Road, Ravenscliffe, Bradford and Safdar, of Cumberland Road, Bradford, all admitted a charge of "ill-treating persons who lack capacity" in October.

Recorder Mansell jailed Safdar, 23, for 21 months; Hullah, 21, for 18 months and Poole, 26, for 12 months.

He told them their offences involved "inhuman and degrading treatment". He said he was not convinced by either of the women's claims of remorse, although he said he was more sympathetic to Poole's claims.

While he accepted Poole did not physically abuse Mr Costigan he was, however, present and did nothing to help or report the incidents, despite his seniority.

It was all too much for Poole when the judge announced he would be sending him to prison. Having sobbed for much of the hearing he collapsed in the dock -his evident suffering watched impassively by his two co-accused.

Dock officers and a friend, who was allowed in to help him, eventually managed to take him into the cells behind the courtroom where, after a few minutes, he recovered sufficiently to return and face his punishment.

Robert Sutcliffe

Inhuman: Tanzeela Safdar, above, and Paul Poole, who did nothing to stop the abuse.