Council demands review of decision not to bar carer

WEST Berkshire Council is demanding a review into an external decision to allow a carer – who appeared to drag an 87-year-old dementia sufferer along the floor of her Newbury home – to continue to work with vulnerable people.
As reported in last week’s Newbury Weekly News, CCTV footage recorded in July 2013 shows frail pensioner Lotte Butcher repeatedly screaming while the carer grabs hold of her wrists.
The carer was later arrested and charged by police – but the charge was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service , who ruled it was “not in the public interest” to prosecute.
Speaking to the NWN last week, spokeswoman for the CPS, Louise Rosher said: “It is very rare that a case where there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction for an alleged assault on a vulnerable, elderly person is not prosecuted, but the circumstances in this case were exceptional.
“We have conducted a rigorous review of the case, including further detailed scrutiny of the CCTV, but although an alleged assault may have been possible to prove, our conclusion that any action on the part of the carer was without malice, forethought, or anger, meant the decision was taken not to prosecute.”
The CPS decision not to prosecute means that the carer has now been cleared by the Disclosure and Barring Service – a government body that enables organisations to make safer recruitment decisions by identifying candidates who may be unsuitable for certain work – and therefore permitted to work with children and vulnerable adults.
However, the council is now demanding that the DBS reviews its decision after learning that it may not have viewed all the available evidence before reaching its decision.
A spokesperson for the council, Peta Stoddard-Crompton, said: “The council is working with the West Berkshire Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board to request a review of the decision not to bar the carer from working with vulnerable adults."
She added that she was unable to comment any further due to the ongoing review.
Michael Butcher, who installed the CCTV cameras in order to keep a protective eye over his mother, said: “It is absolutely disgusting.
“It beggars belief that the DBS did not view all the evidence – especially video footage of the abuse and statements.
“How can someone who the police, social services and the CPS themselves have admitted abused my mother be allowed to continue to care for vulnerable people in West Berkshire?”
Newbury MP Richard Benyon has also questioned the CPS decision not to prosecute the carer, raising the issue with Prime Minister David Cameron and promising to “fight for justice”.
A spokesman for the DBS, Bruce Willan, said: “We are unable to comment on the specifics of any individual case. But we are aware of the points which have been raised.”