A CARE home worker who mistreated a young mum suffering from dementia-like symptoms just weeks before she died has been warned she faces a prison sentence.

Mavis Offei, 64, was employed at the Parklands nursing home, in Thundersley Park Road, Benfleet, in October 2015 - when Hollie Turner, from Canvey, became a resident.

Hollie, 21, suffered from Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH), a cancer-like disease that causes brain tumours. She was placed in the home alongside elderly residents by Essex County Council.

Basildon Crown Court heard that despite her care plan specifically stating she should not be restrained, Offei placed Hollie in a half-Nelson arm lock and rammed her head into a chair during a row about a mobile phone on January 11, 2016.

Hollie’s mum Sherrie caught her in the act and the incident was also captured on CCTV. The home referred the matter to Essex Police.

Investigators later uncovered CCTV footage of another incident on January 9, during which Offei restrained Hollie by grabbing hold of both of her wrists. A jury found this did not amount to wilful neglect and Offei was acquitted of the charge.

Offei, of Ludlow Mews, Pitsea, told the court she was not aware of the care plan and believed she was using reasonable restraint methods.

Hollie died just two weeks after she was put into an arm lock, prompting forensic scientists to examine her brain to see whether the mistreatment contributed towards her death. Detectives concluded it did not.

Offei was found guilty of one count of wilful neglect of a person with mental incapacity after a two-week trial.

Echo:

Hollie’s mum Sherrie Thompson, 47, who now lives in Surrey, told the Echo her daughter “rapidly deteriorated” after the incident.

She said: “I would visit every day and shower her and get her into bed. I was walking to the door and could see Hollie with her arm behind her back.

“I screamed at her to let her go but I was quite calm and just took Hollie back to her room. Mavis just said: ‘I wasn’t hurting her intentionally.’

“With Hollie’s condition it was like she had dementia. She could remember things from years ago but would get confused.

“After she died they had to send her brain away to see if the incident had any affect, so we couldn’t even grieve for her properly."

Dad Ray Turner said repeatedly watching the harrowing CCTV footage throughout the trial was “unbearable.”

He said: “We are pleased because it’s a lot of pressure off now, knowing it’s been sorted. She was found guilty of the more serious incident and the judge said she could be sent to prison.

“It was unbearable sitting in there and seeing your daughter in pain and screaming for help. I had to walk out one time. Sherrie has still not seen it.”

Following the verdict, Judge David Pugh warned Offei she could be jailed when she sentenced on May 19. He said: “This crosses the custody threshold and a sentence of imprisonment is highly likely.”

Young mum had rare disease

HOLLIE Turner suffered from a disease so rare that doctors still do not know what causes it.

Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) is a cancer-like disease of the blood cells. The condition occurs when Langerhans cells – a type of white blood cell found in the skin that normally helps fight infection – are overproduced.

The cells then spread to other parts of the body, including the brain’s pituitary gland, where they can form tumours and damage organs.

Raised alongside two brothers and a step-brother, Hollie grew up at her family home in Ambleside Walk, Canvey. A keen dancer who liked to sing, she attended Cornelius Vermuyden School and then Castle View School.

After the birth of her daughter Myah in 2013, she began experiencing fatigue and insatiable thirst, leading to an incorrect diagnosis of depression, until a tumour was discovered.

The Echo told how the community held a fundraising day at Concord Rangers FC. Hollie underwent chemotherapy but became too ill to continue living at home. She was the only non-elderly adult living at the Benfleet care home where she died on January 4, 2016.