An elderly woman had toilet paper forced into her mouth and was beaten with a metal ruler by a carer, a Court heard. Eighty-year-old Betty Sunderland, who lived at Cullingworth was left frightened and bruised by the assault carried out by Jacqueline Wright, a carer with Keighley-based Dalesway Nursing Services, a jury was told. Wright, 43, of Vicarage Place, Barnolds-wick, Lancashire, has denied two charges of assault causing actual bodily harm. At Doncaster Crown Court the jury was told it was hearing a re-trial.

Prosecuting barrister Andrea Addleman said Wright had been part of a round-the-clock team caring for Miss Sunderland in her own home. Miss Sunderland, who suffered Parkinson's Disease, had complained that she had had toilet paper forced into her mouth and throat and had been hit with what she described as a metal ruler. She also had a scarf tied round her mouth and nose, she alleged.

Miss Sunderland, who died last year of natural causes unrelated to the alleged assault, had told police that Wright had said: "I'm known as the cruellest nurse at Dalesway." The court heard that daily records kept by the carers in Miss Sunderland's home for the dates February 21 to March 7 in that year had never been found. Wright had denied all the allegations in interviews with the police, saying the mouth injuries were caused by fish bones.

The trial continues.

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