A CARE home manager who shook a resident with dwarfism and learning difficulties before swearing at her and shoving a wheelchair into her legs has been fined.

Angela Laidler, who has more than 30 years experience working as a nurse, carried out the assault on the victim after she wouldn’t come out of a lift.

A sentencing hearing at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court heard how Laidler “stormed up the stairs” shouting “get out of the lift you little f****** cow”, before shaking the victim by the shoulders and throwing her zimmer frame out of the door.

When the 54-year-old resident still refused to leave the lift Laidler rammed a wheelchair into her legs which contained another resident in her eighties.

Rachel Dodsworth, prosecuting, said: “The victim was found with scratches and marks on her legs and when she was asked about them said she would only tell her social worker. This was an assault on a vulnerable lady by someone who was meant to care for her in this establishment.”

Probation officer Hillary Payne said Laidler was now unemployed and was receiving benefits, following the incident in June last year and was also at risk of being struck off the nursing and midwifery register.

Neil Jones, representing Laidler, said the offence was not against an elderly resident and the victim was “challenging”. He said: “In many ways it is a tragedy to the profession that she occupies that she can no longer contribute to it.”

Laidler, of Kip Hill Court, Stanley, had denied common assault at Redwell Hills Care Home, in Consett, but was found guilty after a trial last week.

The 51-year-old was ordered to pay a £300 fine, £250 compensation, £300 in court costs and a surcharge of £30.

Glynn Wales, chair of the bench, said: “It was a very unpleasant incident and that was the minimum sentence we could impose.”