Eight care-home workers, from the cleaner to the owner, wilfully neglected a vulnerable and elderly dementia patient in a room “frankly not fit for human inhabitation”, a court has heard.
Jurors were told that Edward Hinnells, a 79-year-old widower who could not care for himself, was left in “abject squalor and filth” by staff at a Bradford nursing home.
He lived in urine-soaked clothes in a filthy bedroom containing a chair covered in dry faeces and a floor so dirty that visitors’ feet stuck to it, Bradford crown court heard.
Hinnells, who had suffered a stroke, had open sores on his groin and appeared to have lost weight when he was examined after leaving Highdell nursing home, jurors were told.
Stephen Wood, prosecuting, told the jury that the eight Highdell nursing home workers deliberately neglected Hinnells for nearly a year after he moved in on 13 February 2013.
“Mr Hinnells’ personal hygiene needs were neglected and he resided in a room that was, the prosecution submit, frankly not fit for human inhabitation,” Wood said. “Allowing him to smoke in his room alone presented, you may think, as an obvious risk. You may think due to Mr Hinnells’ challenging behaviour, the attitude of some was to leave him alone – let others deal with him.”
He added: “You may think that it is a statement of the obvious, but Mr Hinnells and his room did not get into the state they were overnight. This was systematic deliberate neglect by those who were charged with the care of a vulnerable, elderly and, let us not forget, very ill man. Everyone in the dock failed him.”
The care-home owner, Stephen Pelkowski, 51, and seven other defendants deny wilfully neglecting a person who lacked or was believed to lack mental capacity, contrary to the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
Hinnells, now 82, was described as presenting challenging behaviour that is “quite normal” for a person with vascular dementia. On occasions, the jury heard, this included abusive and even violent behaviour.
The widower was the subject of a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) ruling in May 2013 after assessments by a psychiatrist and a social worker, meaning he could be restrained lawfully to clean him.
However, jurors were told that Highdell was a “care home in chaos” and that Hinnells’ living conditions remained “utterly appalling”.
He had been waiting months for a catheter, so he wet himself and urinated into a bottle that was then decanted into a bucket beneath a table, the jury was told.
He was also allowed to chain-smoke despite having a locked window and no smoke detector, the court heard.
The state of Hinnells’ living conditions was so dire that two police officers described themselves as “upset and sickened” when they visited in December 2013, the court heard.
Police were called on 11 December 2013 after Hinnells made a “somewhat confused” complaint of assault by staff, the jury were told. None of those on trial are accused of assault.
Jurors were told that the two police officers said Hinnells’ room “smelled strongly of urine, faeces and smoke. The floor was so filthy that the officers’ feet stuck to it and the floor was heavily burnt by cigarette ash.
“The walls were dirty, including around the bed. Mr Hinnells was sitting in a leather or similar chair facing away from the door so he could not see who was entering the room. The chair was filthy and covered in faeces and burn marks.
“The pyjama bottoms of Mr Hinnells were wet with urine and his vest was filthy and bore the marks of cigarette burns. The hands, nails and face of Mr Hinnells were dirty. His body odour was very strong.”
The manager of another care home where Hinnells was transferred on 30 December 2013 – 10 months after arriving at Highdell – described his living conditions as “the worst she had ever seen”, the jurors were told.
Eight defendants deny the charges, including Pelkowski, Jennifer Cross, 60; Desmond Crowley, 59; Gerard McDermott, 58; Piotr Czajkowski, 49; Nicki Kassama, 30; Phillipa Robinson, 57; and Valerie James, 58.
The trial, expected to last up to four weeks, continues.
