Earlyface

The woman who has branded
psychiatric hospitals a ‘playground for
predators’ only built up the courage to
speak out about the abuse after she was
released from Little Brook Hospital in
Dartford, Kent – and her abuser avoided
a jail sentence.
The woman, who has not been named,
has now called for better safeguards for
mental health patients, who she
describes as ‘the most vulnerable in
society in terms of being abused’.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Victoria
Derbyshire show, she described how the
staff member would enter her room for
s*x on a nightly basis.
She narrated how the staff member
would give her gifts such as Valium,
cigarettes and chocolate, according to
the Mirror
The woman who is now in her 40s gave
an estimate that she was defiled 60
times. She was paid £100,000
compensation in 2003 and 2004.
She said that the abuse built up until it
was taking place up to six nights a week
and described how she was told he
would report her for good behaviour.
‘It was total manipulation. He was
saying, “this is your way out”. At the
time you believe anything,’ she said.
‘You latch on to that hope because you
don’t have much hope in anything else.
He would come in to my room every
night and r*pe me.
‘But who is going to believe a mental
patient over a highly respected member
of staff?’
 Meanwhile, she was told by doctors that
if she attempted to leave the hospital
she would be sectioned.
The woman even got a sexually
transmitted disease, but staff only
became aware of the abuse when she
was released from the home and gained
the courage to report it.
The care worker however pleaded guilty
to one act of unlawful s*xual intercourse
with a patient after being charged by
police and he was given a 12-month
sentence, suspended by two years, and
told by Kent and Medway NHS Trust he
should never work with vulnerable
people again.
B