THE former owner and manager of a Keighley-district care home has gone on trial alongside her then-senior care assistant over allegations that elderly residents were verbally and physically ill-treated or neglected.

Helen Burridge, 62, who ran the former Riddlesden Rest Home in Carr Lane, Riddlesden, has denied four ill-treatment allegations relating to four female residents.

Her former senior care assistant Amy Dickinson, who was only 19 at the time, has pleaded not guilty to seven similar charges involving the same four women and three other residents.

Back in December 2019, police officers arrested the pair at the premises after an employee reported her concerns about what was happening at the 10-bedroom care home.

A jury at Bradford Crown Court yesterday heard details of the allegations which include using derogatory language towards residents, failing to administer prescribed medication, locking an 84-year-old woman in her room, and throwing a pillow or an inflatable exercise ball at the head of another vulnerable woman.

“Both defendants we say provided care which fell far below that which is expected for a care worker,” said prosecutor Ashleigh Metcalfe.

She alleged that one dementia sufferer was described by Burridge as “a greedy cow” after she took a piece of bread from another resident’s plate.

Ms Metcalfe said Burridge pushed the woman back into her chair and “slapped” her with the back of her hand.

Another 86-year-old woman, who also suffered from dementia, was said to have had difficulty eating, but the defendants allegedly called her a derogatory term for a disabled person and “an idiot” and became angry if she was taking too long with her food.

Ms Metcalfe alleged that when the woman was seen moving food around her plate Burridge told her to “stop pissing about” and tried to force the resident to eat the food from a spoon.

The court heard that another woman was not permitted to have lights on in her room even though she was left sitting in the dark on her own for large periods of time.

Ms Metcalfe described how two bed-bound residents, a 90-year-old woman and a 94-year-old man, were allegedly left in heavily soiled clothing.

A former employee claimed that when she went into the man’s room she was met with “a horrible rancid smell”.

Dickinson, now 24, is alleged to have demonstrated “the pillow game” to a co-worker by throwing a pillow at the head of a 72-year-old woman with dementia.

Ms Metcalfe said when the colleague told her to stop Dickinson is alleged to have laughed.

She said the woman who was hit would “wobble” and lose her balance and every time she ended up crying.

“It was not always played with a pillow,” alleged Ms Metcalfe.

“There have been occasions when the pillow has been swapped with a big inflatable exercise ball.”

The court heard that Dickinson was alleged to have destroyed a female resident’s medication by dissolving it in boiling water or throwing it in the bin rather than administering it.

At the start of December 2019, Dickinson was allegedly “hesitant” about calling 999 for the same resident who was said to be sat in her wheelchair looking “freezing cold” and dribbling.

The woman was immediately taken to hospital when the paramedics were called, but she passed away in hospital a week later.

Burridge, of Greenfield Road, Holmfirth, and Dickinson, of Fairfax Street, Silsden, have denied ill-treating or neglecting the residents in their care.

Ms Metcalfe told the jury that it was anticipated their defence would be that the prosecution witnesses were simply telling lies.

“That will be your task. You will decide whether the prosecution witnesses are doing their best to describe true events to the best of their recollection or whether they are simply here to tell you a pack of lies,” said Ms Metcalfe.

The trial is expected to last at least two weeks.