A CARE home worker who humiliated and assaulted vulnerable adults was sentenced yesterday.

Ann Weedall was given a 12- month community order and 120 hours of unpaid work when she appeared at Teesside Crown Court.

Weedall was convicted by a jury of ill-treating two residents and assaulting a third at a privately-run hospital.

The 49-year-old, of Millington Close, Billingham, near Stockton, was a support worker at the town’s South View Independent Hospital.

During an earlier hearing, the court was told that Weedall assaulted a woman when she grabbed her by the shoulders after, she alleged, the resident tried to strangle her dog during a therapy visit.

In addition, it was found that she humiliated a male stroke victim by putting a bra on him, and an incontinent woman by referring to a “f***ing tsunami”

when she wet herself.

The offences took place between February and the end of April, last year, against a backdrop of what Judge Howard Crowson described as a catalogue of care home abuse stories in the media.

He urged the jury to put the issue out of their minds. He said: “Remember, at all times, you are trying one defendant on the allegations made against her. Make sure emotion has no part in the determination of the case.”

Run by Barchester Healthcare, the hospital’s 15-bed Hazeldene unit, where Weedall worked, specialises in caring for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Weedall was sacked and another staff member was suspended as a result of the incident.

It is understood the Care Quality Commission will be conducting an investigation.