A care home manager who was accused of taking away a blind resident's call bell has won her case for unfair dismissal.

Tracy Matheson, who worked at Wavertree House in Lansdowne Road, Hove, told an employment tribunal that the 85-year-old partially sighted resident rang the bell up to 40 times an hour.

The Royal National Institute for the Blind, which runs the home, denied treating Mrs Matheson unfairly.

The charity claimed it took action following a catalogue of complaints from staff and residents about her management style.

It said Mrs Matheson chose to resign after being informed a disciplinary investigation was to be launched into allegations of poor management and complaints she bullied and intimidated staff.

But the Brighton tribunal ruled in Mrs Matheson's favour and will hold a remedy hearing at a later date in which a compensation deal will be agreed.

Mrs Matheson, who has now moved to Devon, told the tribunal the bell was taken away for two days because the man was abusing the system.

She said he was frequently aggressive, used foul language and said he was ringing the bell to see how quickly staff responded. When the bell was taken away she ordered staff to check on him every half hour.

Mrs Matheson claimed she was forced to resign by the RNIB's assistant director Charlie Dixon after a four-hour meeting in October last year.

She said she was told, without warning, that she was being investigated for gross misconduct.

She said: "I felt I had done nothing wrong. Mr Dixon exerted a great deal of pressure upon me to resign.

"He badgered me for four hours and eventually I gave in."

During cross-examination she denied it was unsafe to leave the elderly resident in the smoking room without a call bell to alert staff.

Mr Dixon said the patient was challenging to care for but he did not believe the resident was wilfully abusing the call bell system.