Care home abuse probe: Chichester man due in court
He's accused of offences involving two male residents
A care worker from Chichester accused of ill-treating and wilfully neglecting two residents at a West Sussex care centre is due to appear in court on Wednesday (November 4th).
68-year-old Wayne Dennis Watkins, of the Lakeside Holiday Park in Vinnetrow Road, Runcton, was charged in August following an investigation by Sussex Police safeguarding detectives.
Officers from the force's Complex Abuse Unit investigated allegations received in 2019 of physical mistreatment and lack of safeguarding of 12 residents at the Horncastle Care Centre in Plawhatch Lane in Sharpthorne, which was owned and operated by Sussex Health Care.
A file of evidence was submitted to the CPS this year, who have now authorised the prosecution of the care worker.
Mr Watkins was served with a court summons to appear at Crawley Magistrates' Court, to answer allegations that during 2017 and 2018, as a care worker, he ill-treated and wilfully neglected two male residents at the centre, contrary to Section 20(1) of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015.
Three other people who were care workers at the centre, two women both aged 56, and a man aged 50, were also interviewed under caution during the police investigation, on suspicion of ill-treatment of 10 other residents, but the CPS have advised that there is insufficient evidence to justify their prosecution.
Police have kept families of residents informed and have liaised with both West Sussex County Council and the Care Quality Commission throughout the investigation.