A CARE home boss was condemned as a remorseless penny-pincher as he was jailed for the death of an elderly resident.

Judge Michael Taylor told Matt Matharu that his "reckless disregard" for health and safety was to blame for the 90-year-old's death.

Norah Elliott climbed through an unrestrained first-floor window at Parkview care home in Seaton Carew, Hartlepool, and fell to the ground.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Matharu - who has an interest in six homes for the elderly - kept "precious few" maintenance records.

Judge Taylor yesterday (Monday) blasted his knowledge of health and safety and the training given to staff as "rudimentary in the extreme".

He also hit out at the businessman's "unsavoury" claims during a trial last year that Mrs Elliott had broken out to commit suicide.

Matharu was jailed for eight months and ordered to pay the prosecution costs of more than £17,000 - despite allegedly being broke.

His barrister Christopher Morrison described the 50-year-old as "a man of straw" and said: "It's a business of struggle and juggle."

Mr Morrison told Judge Taylor: "The business is hideously over-geared . . . it is financially clinging to its existence.

"Although he may have the outward trapping of a large house, the true financial position is as thin as the paper on the documents which effectively make him the owner of it."

The court heard that the businessman borrowed almost £400,000 from his brother for the deposit on the £1m-plus mansion in 2007.

His mortgage is £1,500 a month, his is repaying the loan at more than £2,000 a month and the mortgage on three of his care homes is £13,000 a month.

Mr Morrison told Judge Taylor that as many as 200 jobs within the care home group would be in jeopardy if Matharu was jailed.

But the judge said: "The need for proactive safety in homes such as this, where all of the residents are vulnerable, is a great need.

"You just ignore that and I am satisfied you ignore for both financial considerations and because you purely failed to turn your mind to the real risks of the operation you were running."

He told Matharu: "Given your approach in the defence of this trial, I am satisfied that while you do have regrets for the death of Mrs Elliott, I'm afraid I don't see genuine remorse.

"If there had been genuine remorse and an acceptance by you of your responsibility at an early stage, I may have been able to take a different course, but that's not open to me."

Mrs Elliott plunged to her death after climbing through the window and onto the roof of a conservatory, the court was told.

Minutes earlier, she had been returned to the room she shared with her husband after trying to get out of a back door.

The pensioner - who had the early onset of dementia - was "fragile and anxious" and "jealously regarded her independence".

After the fall in November 2012, an inspection by police and council officials found other windows at the home had inadequate restraints.

In the room occupied by the Elliott's, one window had no restrictor while the other had two screws and a "flimsy" chain.

A police officer used his little finger to break the lock, and prosecutor James Kemp described it as "not fit for purpose".

Matharu said after the inspection that he would rather put in more screws and chains that spend £400 on specially-designed safety windows. He was found guilty after a trial of two breaches of the Health and Safety Act, in failing to ensure people were not exposed to risk.

A spokesman for Hartlepool Council said: “This case will hopefully serve as a reminder to every one of the tragic circumstances that can occur when health and safety are not properly adhered to.

“Adequate controls to prevent vulnerable people falling from windows, such as window restrictors which prevent windows from opening too far, are easy to implement and advice is available from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

“We would urge care providers to revisit their risk assessment to ensure that they have adequate measures in place and that these are being suitably maintained and recorded.”