The mother of a man with autism secretly recorded a care worker abusing him at a home.
Caroline Hopton set up the hidden camera after becoming concerned about her son Ollie, 20.
Ollie Hopton, whose mother secretly filmed him being mistreated
Ollie, who also has a severe learning disability, was being cared for at a home run by London Care Partnership in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey.
Hopton says that footage shows care worker Raja Khan, 29, pushing her son and picking him up and dumping him on the floor.
The footage also shows Khan swearing and shouting at Ollie in September 2017, says Hopton.
Care worker guilty of ill-treatment
Guildford Crown Court found Khan, from Inwood Road in Hounslow, guilty of ill-treatment and wilful neglect on Monday 10 June.
Hopton said of the video footage: “It was just horrendous to see. As a parent, you just can’t understand how anybody could be cruel, especially to such a vulnerable person.”
Hopton, 56, from Windsor, says within weeks of leaving the camera she found footage of “absolutely shocking” abuse.
She said Ollie is now back home full-time, has recovered and is “loving life”.
The campaigning mum believes her son’s case is just one example of “systemic abuse” in care.
Two legal challenges
Hopton is taking part in two legal challenges. One is to help parents continue making decisions for their learning disabled children after they turn 18. The other is to end detentions in hospital.
London Care Partnership is now owned by Elysium Healthcare.
In a statement, the firm said it works with “external bodies” to provide a “high level of care”.
The firm said that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rates all its homes as good or outstanding.
Khan will face sentencing on 28 June.
Click here to view Hopton’s most recent case.
Related:
- Police charge care workers with abuse
- Abuse ‘endemic across care system’
- Safeguards over care ‘falling over’
- NHS watchdog demands community care
- Plea to politicians over funding crisis
- High noon at High Court for parents
- Parents go to court to fight for rights
- Parents want rights in over-18s welfare
Published: 17 June 2019
