4:43pm Monday 18th February 2008
By Gazette Reporter
Four people charged with neglecting elderly residents at a care home appeared in court today.
Two employees at Newsham House, Gloucester, and two directors of ADL plc, owners of the care home, are accused of wilfully neglecting mental health patients between 2003 and 2005.
William Jeremy Davies, of Chippenham, Pearl Jackson, of Wakefield, West Yorkshire; and Heather Bolton and Derek Youds, both from Gloucester, appeared before magistrates in Gloucester for committal proceedings.
The offences are alleged to have involved nine residents at the complex on Stroud Road.
Youds, 64, and Bolton, 56, who were employees at the home, face 10 and eight charges respectively.
Their cases were committed to Gloucester Crown Court, where they will next appear for a case management hearing on April 11.
Managing director Jackson, 49, and operations director Davies, 60, are still with ADL plc and face eight charges each.
Davies and Jackson's defence team today argued that the two directors should not have been charged under the Mental Health Act, but under the Health and Safety at Work Act, in a bid to have all charges withdrawn.
The hearing continues tomorrow.
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