A pair of care workers treated a woman with dementia "no better than a dog" when they abused her, a court heard.

Ricky Wheelhouse, 28, and Hayley Burton, 25, were meant to be caring for Gloria Rowland, when their disgraceful behaviour took place.

The pair claimed that the 77-year-old, who had anxiety as well as dementia, had thrown toast, hit a female carer and called them liars at her home in Mansfield.

In the incident, which took place in June 2018, Burton avoided being hit by Mrs Rowland but the pair began to interrogate her after the incident.

Wheelhouse, 28, asked her: "Did you hit her for the fun of it?"

When the victim said she had not hit Burton, Wheelhouse continued: "You did. I saw you. Why did you hit her?"

He then said: "What's your reason?" 19 times in succession.

After an inaudible reply Burton said: "Well you shouldn't hit me then should you, Gloria?"

Wheelhouse added: "She don't like people."

When Mrs Rowland denies hitting Burton, she responded: "You saying I'm lying? Ricky were there when you bloody hit me so I'm not lying."

The abuse was caught on a tape recorder installed by a care company after Mrs Rowland's daughter voiced concerns when Wheelhouse made a coarse remark about the pensioner.

At Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday, March 4, prosecutor Lucy Jones said that Mrs Rowland had died before the pair were punished for their crimes.

The pair appeared at Nottingham Crown Court

Sentencing the pair, who both admitted to ill-treating an individual in their care, Judge Stuart Rafferty QC said there was no excuse for their behaviour.

"As that tape recording revealed, you treated that elderly lady no better than a dog," he said.

"This is despicable behaviour. There are no excuses.

"You put her on trial, repeatedly saying 'what's the reason' for doing something. You tried to make her confess to something she did not understand.

"A custodial sentence is inevitable so others in your position understand they must treat the elderly with respect.

"Neither one of you showed the slightest remorse. That is why you are going down."

A stock image of a woman in her home
Stock Image - Gloria Rowland had dementia and anxiety

Wheelhouse of Laxton Road, Egmonton was jailed for six months, while Burton of Crookes Avenue, Mansfield Woodhouse, was jailed for four months.

Digby Johnson, mitigating for Wheelhouse, said he had since lost his job and his home, and he was still out of work.

"The peril is that in a hospital ward, there are endless people around but here we have a stranger seeing someone at home with nobody looking on," he added.

Victoria Rose, mitigating for Burton said: "She is incredibly remorseful. She had been concerned about Mr Wheelhouse's behaviour in the past. She made a report to the care provider."

Councillor Tony Harper, chair of Nottinghamshire County Council's Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee, said he approved of the sentences.

"We welcome the custodial sentence of two care workers for the verbal abuse of an elderly victim in 2018," he said.

"We acted on information from the home care company immediately and worked with the police to investigate the allegations as part of our safeguarding procedures.

"Adult abuse can occur in a number of places and we need people to be vigilant and report it to us."

Detective Sergeant Hannah Frame, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: "Gloria was vulnerable person and what she went through would have put her under immense distress.

"Our team works incredibly hard to protect the most vulnerable people in society and it is through their hard work that we are able to find people responsible for committing disgusting crimes such as this.

"We will always investigate reports of abuse thoroughly. If you have any concerns for a family member or are a victim of abuse, please do not hesitate to contact us on 101 or 999 in an emergency."