A CARE home deputy manager who slapped, spat at and abused residents has been jailed.

Madelynne Rawle worked at Summerley Care Home in Bognor, a home for elderly residents with mental health difficulties, including dementia.

In June, the 61-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of being a carer ill-treating and wilfully neglecting two people without capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

She was later found guilty of the same offence against five more residents, and not guilty of one such offence.

On Friday Rawle was given a 30-month prison sentence at Portsmouth Crown Court.

The Argus: Madelynne Rawle worked at Summerley Care Home in Bognor Madelynne Rawle worked at Summerley Care Home in Bognor

All the offences took place at Summerley Care Home, where Rawle was working in 2018. She had joined two years previously.

Police found she had slapped residents, pulled their hair, spat at them, sat on them, forced them to sit and was verbally abusive towards them.

The offences were conducted against seven people in her care – six women and one man.

Five of the seven victims have since died, for unrelated reasons.

The Argus: Summerley Care Home in Bognor Summerley Care Home in Bognor

Detective Constable Sarah Lallament said Rawle, of Northcliffe Road, Bognor, abused her victims over many months.

"Rawle's victims were vulnerable adults who all required support 24/7 for day-to-day activities including basic hygiene and getting dressed, and assistance with eating,” she said.

"Staff began to be uneasy about Rawle's conduct, and they took advantage of a change in senior management at the end of 2018 to voice their concerns with the local authority who immediately contacted us, and we launched an investigation.

"The current management of the home gave us their full co-operation, and this contributed to the positive outcome of our investigation."

"It is a specialist home, and relatives and the public would expect the care of their relatives to be of a good standard rather than being subject to the verbal and physical abuse to which Rawle subjected them over many months.”

The prosecution, authorised by the CPS, followed an investigation by detectives from the West Sussex Safeguarding Investigations Unit.