Bognor care home manager 'slapped' and 'spat at' residents

Madelynne Rawle, 61 and unemployed, of Northcliffe Road, Bognor Regis, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for cruelty to seven residents under her charge- 6 women and 1 man.

The incident took place in 2018, at Summerley care home, Bognor Regis, where Ms Rawle was working as a carer. The care home provides specialist support to elderly patients with mental health difficulties like dementia.

A police spokesperson said the persecution followed an investigation by the West Sussex Safeguarding Investigations Unit. Detectives found that, in individual cases, 'Rawle had slapped residents, pulled their hair, spat at them, sat on them, forced them to sit and was verbally abusive.' All but two of the victims have since sadly died for reasons unrelated to the abuse.

In June this year, Ms Rawle pleaded guilty to two counts of ill-treating and wilfully neglecting two people without capacity under the Mental Health Capacity act, police said, and has been found guilty of further counts of the same offence against five other residents. She was found not guilty on one count of the same offence.

"Rawle's victims were vulnerable adults who all required support 24/7 for day to day activities including basic hygiene and getting dressed, and assistance with eating," detective constable Sarah Lallament said.

She went onto explain that Ms Rawle's colleagues were uneasy with her condcut and voiced their concerns with the local authority at the end of 2018, who immediately contacted the police.

"The current management of the home gave us their full co-operation, and this contributed to the positive outcome of our investigation," the detective said.

"(Summerley) is a specialist home, and relatives and the public would expect the care of their relatives to be of a good standard rather than being subject to the verbal and physical abuse to which Rawle subjected them over many months. "

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