A ROSSENDALE care worker caught on hidden CCTV cameras verbally abusing and slapping a brain damaged patient at a specialist hospital has been jailed.

Lynette Crook was sentenced to seven months in prison after pleading guilty to five counts of ill treatment of a person who lacks capacity.

Crook, of Victoria Street, Ramsbottom, was recorded abusing 23-year-old quadriplegic Daniel Moran at The Priory Highbank Centre in Walmersley Road, near Shuttleworth.

Her colleague, Rita Page, 69, of Palatine Drive, Bury, was also jailed for seven months at Bolton Crown Court on Friday.

The pair were filmed calling Mr Moran a ‘scummy boy’, slapping him and jabbing him with a pen while they were healthcare assistants at the rehabilitation centre.

The mistreatment, which occurred between August 28 and September 19, 2012, was discovered after concerned family members installed a secret camera in his room.

Robert Golinski, prosecuting, told the court that Mr Moran has little mental capacity and cannot do anything for himself, meaning he needs round-the-clock care.

Defence barrister John Close said Crook had been called ‘scum of the earth’ and told to ‘rot in hell’ following media coverage of her crime.

At a hearing in March, Crook admitted slapping Mr Moran’s leg, using abusive language and jabbing him in the head and body with a pen.

Page pleaded guilty to slapping Mr Moran on his leg and using abusive language towards him.

Judge Timothy Clayson said the pair’s actions had ‘belittled and demeaned’ Mr Moran.

He added: “By behaving as you did towards Daniel each of you broke, in a fundamental way, the trust placed in you by his family.

“Society as a whole deplores abuse towards the vulnerable.”

A spokesman for The Priory Highbank Centre confirmed that both women had been dismissed for gross misconduct.

PC Karen Sinclair, from Greater Manchester Police, said: “I hope these sentences send a clear message that mistreating anyone in care not only takes their dignity, but will lead to a criminal conviction.”