A care worker was filmed dancing naked around a severely disabled young man at a residential care home in Kent, leaked footage allegedly shows.
The mobile phone video, obtained by BBC South East Today, was filmed during a staff and resident party at Thanet Lodge boarding house in Margate.
Thanet Lodge was run by the John Townsend Trust, which went into administration in December last year after the Care Quality Commission ordered the closure of Westgate College for the Deaf, which was also run by the trust, because of abuse of residents.
Jane Smith, a support worker at Thanet Lodge, was sacked in September 2014 after a whistleblower handed in the footage, the BBC said.
The video also allegedly featured care workers using sexually explicit language, and another three people lost their jobs as a result of their involvement in the incident.
They were team leader Yvette Surrage, who was reportedly seen dancing semi-clothed in the video; David Gardiner, who was also caught on camera; and Ben Healey, who filmed the incident and is believed to have encouraged his colleagues.
It is unclear whether Gardiner was in the room while Smith was dancing naked.
The young resident featured in the video is blind and has serious learning difficulties, which meant he needed 24-hour care.
His mother told the BBC: “I just couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe that that organisation could allow this to happen and the people I trusted did this.”
She said her son probably wandered into the common room from his bedroom to seek help. “He used to do a lot of self-harming where he could bash the side of his face, bite his hands, thump the floor– we never knew why.
“The fact that his behaviour has changed so drastically for the better since he’s moved, leads me to believe that this went on and maybe worse, who knows, for a long time.”
Kent police said while the acts were “wholly inappropriate and irresponsible, they do not fit the criteria for a specific criminal offence”.
BBC South East contacted the care workers. Surrage denied there was abuse or poor practice. Gardiner said he felt the incident did not harm the students but admitted he should not have allowed it to go on. He said he cared for the young adults to the best of his ability.
Smith said she was at a difficult point in her life and deeply regretted what happened.
Healy said there was no footage that showed him acting inappropriately.
