Associate Takes on County Council

A desperate wife has launched a legal fight to "free" her husband from a nursing home where he was attacked by a member of staff. Ken Jowsey, 69, was allegedly yanked out of his chair and dragged 40 yards along a corridor by a male nurse - only four days after Cornwall County Council took over the responsibility for his care.

His wife Pat, 67, says he was left so distraught by the violent assault in the early hours that he is anxious to move out of Tregenna House nursing home in Camborne.

The 49-year-old man who attacked him no longer works there and is understood to have been banned from working with vulnerable people.

Despite the couple's pleas, however, social services bosses are insisting Mr Jowsey remains a resident of the secure unit.

Now his wife has assembled a legal team to try to overturn the county council's guardianship of her husband, who suffers from mild dementia, and bring him back to the family home in Truro.

"We've been married for 47 years and I can't bear to think of him being locked up there", she said.

Mrs Jowsey, of Coosebean, described how their nightmare began on September 23 last year - around five weeks after her husband, a retired BT engineer, was moved from Longreach House psychiatric unit at Redruth to the privately-run Tregenna House.

"He was assaulted at 4am" she said. "Ken had gone to the lounge because he couldn't sleep and this male nurse told him 'I'll give you 10 seconds' and actually started to count down".

"With that, this man who weighs about 20 stone pulled him from his chair and dragged him down the corridor. I paced it out at 40 yards".

"Ken was in the Coldstream Guards - he's a proud, upright man but he was near enough in tears that day".

"When you love somebody and something like this happens to them, it makes you feel so angry".

Following her complaint to police, the suspected attacker was immediately suspended from duty and PC Alison Gessey, a Helston-based adult protection officer, was brought in to investigate.

This week, force spokesman Alan Mobbs confirmed: "A 49-year-old man was cautioned for common assault at the beginning of December."

Although the man did not return to the nursing home, Mrs Jowsey, a member of Truro Carers' Group says her husband still suffers from the trauma of the attack and has lost a stone in weight.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of their meetings are being supervised by care staff - a move that prompted criticism this week from her legal team.

Richard Scrase, an associate solicitor at Follett Stock in Truro, told The West Briton: "Arguably, this constitutes a breach of Mr and Mrs Jowsey's human rights and is unlawful".

"One must also query the council's belief in the necessity for supervision. It does not surprise me that Mr and Mrs Jowsey interpret the council's actions as vindictive".

"It is a matter of police record that Mr Jowsey was assaulted by a member of staff at Tregenna", added Mr Scrase, whose firm is to represent the family at a forthcoming tribunal.

"The effect of guardianship is to transfer to the council the sort of decisions that a family would otherwise make".

"After an incident of this sort, it seems to me that any family would ensure that their loved one is moved to alternative accommodation".

"Mr Jowsey has asked to be moved; Mrs Jowsey has asked that her husband is moved. For reasons best known to the council, it has declined to bring about that move."

In a statement, a county council spokesman claimed that "all the appropriate procedures" had been followed before its guardianship status was granted last September.

"Mr Jowsey is currently living in the Tregenna nursing home," said the authority spokesman. "Following allegations of an assault, the incident has been thoroughly investigated and appropriate action has been taken to safeguard Mr Jowsey".

"Members of the family visit Mr Jowsey, with a number of unsupervised visits taking place during the Christmas period".

"The department of adult social care is working positively with all parties in the best interests of Mr Jowsey and his family".