A jury has failed to come to a verdict in a trial in which a care home worker was accused of sexually abusing a resident.

Kevin Harris, 35, was accused of the offence while working at Beech Lodge in Horsham, a home for young adults with learning and physical disabilities.

The father of two had denied the charges at his trial at Lewes Crown Court. 

But after listening to three days of evidence, the jury of six men and six women failed to agree on a verdict yesterday.

They were subsequently discharged by Judge Charles Kemp. 

The court had earlier heard from colleague Winifred Beruchan who said she witnessed Harris assaulting the woman after stepping 
out of the room to retrieve bedding and then returning. 

She told a colleague, before reporting it to another member of staff two days later who reported it to the police, the court heard. 

But, taking the stand, Harris denied assaulting the woman.

He said he had simply been assisting Miss Beruchan by rolling the woman on her side and supporting her with his hands. 

He said nothing untoward had taken place while Miss Beruchan had left the room.

His barrister, Louise McCullough, told the court Miss Beruchan had given inconsistent accounts in terms of where Harris was in the room when she allegedly saw him performing the act. 

She asked the court: “Why would someone who had worked for four years at Beech lodge, tending to the woman on a regular basis, behave in such an outrageous way?

“I suggest to the jury the Crown’s principal witness has given inconsistent and logistically impossible accounts.”

Harris of Littlehaven Lane, Horsham, pleaded not guilty to two counts of a care worker engaging in sexual activity with a mentally disordered female. 

The court said the prosecution will be seeking a retrial.