Care Home Neglect

Four health workers have appeared in court charged with neglecting elderly residents at a care home.

Two employees at Newsham House, Gloucester, and two directors of ADL Plc, owners of the care home, are accused of wilfully neglecting mental health patients between 2003 and 2005.

William Jeremy Davies, of Chippenham, Wiltshire, Pearl Jackson, of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Heather Bolton and Derek Youds, both from Gloucester, appeared before Bristol Crown Court for a case management hearing.

The offences are alleged to have involved nine residents at the complex on Stroud Road.

Youds, 64, and Bolton, 56, who were employees at the home, face 10 and eight charges respectively.

Managing director Jackson, 49, and operations director Davies, 60, are still with ADL Plc and face eight charges each.

Pleas are yet to be formally entered.

The four employees will next appear at Bristol Crown Court for a three-day preparatory hearing on September 29. A six-week trial was provisionally booked for October 27.

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Rachelle Mahapatra, a Partner at law firm Irwin Mitchell said: "It is good to see that the police are now investigating cases of neglect with their new powers under the Mental Capacity Act.

"With more of these cases being investigated and highlighted in the media, I hope that it will act as a deterrent to people who consider harming vulnerable people in their care."