A BRUTAL care-home worker smashed a terminally ill resident’s nose in with his elbow.
Mental health nurse Eric Crilley, 68, from Renfrew also called the patient sectarian names and “demeaned” him.
The shamed former RAF man was also been found guilty of sexually assaulted several female staff before he was struck off at a two-day hearing in Edinburgh where he had faced nine charges in all.
A panel heard his misconduct happened while he worked at Campsie View Care Home, Kirkintilloch, Glasgow.
He faced a catalogue of accusations including assault, exposing himself to a wheelchair-bound dementia-suffering patient and groping and kissing young female care assistants between July 2004 and October 2005.
Crilley – at the time a senior member of staff at the care home – failed to appear before a conduct and competence committee of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in Edinburgh last week.
He was found guilty of eight of the nine charges with the accusation of him touching a care assistant’s breasts was found to be not proven.
In October 2005, Crilley is said to have held down Resident A – who was dying from a brain tumour at the time – in an effort to retrieve a packet of cigarettes.
During the incident Crilley is said to have deliberately elbowed the resident in the face, bloodying his nose in the process.
Witnesses told the three-man panel that Crilley held a strong dislike for the male resident due to accusations of the resident smoking in his room contrary to the home’s no-smoking policy.
Brian Bethell, the 22-bed care home’s manager, said: “Resident A was fully orientated and capable of choice. In October 2005 he voiced a complaint to one of the staff and I subsequently interviewed him in his room.
“During the interview his demeanor was that he was traumatised and fairly distressed.
“He felt he was being bullied, intimidated and picked on by Mr Crilley.
“When the nightshift staff were removing his cigarettes he said Mr Crilley elbowed him in the face deliberately.
“Offensive comments, such as “wee bastard” and “wee fenian” were also used towards him.
“He told me the comments made by Mr Crilley made him feel worthless.”
The resident subsequently made an official complaint and was interviewed by the police regarding the assault.
The Kirkintilloch care home is a young disabled unit that caters for victims of strokes, brain tumours and severe head trauma.
Care Assistant A, a young woman in her early 20s, described to the panel her discomfort in working alongside the sleazy pensioner, and told the NMC panel of numerous occasions when she was the victim of sexual harassment.
The quiet spoken blonde said: “My opinion of him was that he not a very professional man. He made comments to other carers and he and his colleagues held inappropriate comments with each other.
“He would always make sexual comments and tell you about sexual encounters he had had.
“Crilley was always asking me out and said he wanted to “show me a good time”. I took that as a sexual suggestion.
“He also made up names, such as ‘Chesty’, for female members of staff and talked about parts of their bodies.
“He had photos on his phone he called his ‘tit collection’, and asked me if he could take a picture of my belly button and put it on the internet. I felt very awkward.
“Crilley would comment on my figure, and once when working together he smacked my behind.
“There was also the time he kissed me while we were alone in the home’s pantry. I was putting on lip balm and he came very close and kissed me on the mouth.
“I was very embarrassed and left the room. From then on I would plan my jobs to stay out of his way and while working together I was very tense.”
Care Assistant B told the panel Crilley once asked a female resident “if she was feeling sexy” before asking the frail pensioner if he could “come in [to her bed] and sort her fanny out”.
Care Assistant C also confirmed she had had sexual innuendos directed towards her by Crilley and revealed she had also had her bottom pinched by the aging lothario.
She said: “We were attending to a female patient (Resident C) who suffers from dementia when Crilley said ‘Do you want to see what she likes?’ He then opened his tunic fully and showed her his bare chest.
“I thought to myself ‘what would have happened if another member of staff was not present?’
“His behaviour was not appropriate.”
Jill Heeps, the care home’s deputy manager, claimed she thought Crilley’s behaviour was “more tongue-in-cheek” than anything else, but her view changed when the investigation into the assault on Resident A began.
She said: “He just didn’t like Resident A. The resident was getting out and we arranged for him to go to the football because he loved Celtic.
“Crilley was angry about this saying he didn’t deserve it. He always went on about a token system should be in place where residents earn their treats by behaving.
“Resident A told me Crilley was a bully who sometimes didn’t give him his cigarettes back.”
In striking Crilley from the nursing register, the panel said: “The panel has considered this case very carefully and has decided to make a striking-off order. The registrant’s record in the NMC register will show that his name has been removed.
“We regard the registrant’s behaviour as wholly unacceptable and fundamentally incompatible with his remaining on the Register.
“All of the charges in this case relate to conduct issues and we had particular regard to the vulnerability of the patients concerned, and the fact that the registrant was in a position of authority and trust in relation to both patients and his work colleagues.
“The registrant’s sexualised behaviour in front of Patients B and C was demeaning and degrading and flagrantly breached the patients’ dignity.
“His sexualised behaviour before junior members of staff was offensive, caused embarrassment and distress, and demonstrated a complete lack of respect and abuse of his position and authority.
“Had it been within our power to refer the registrant to the equivalent of the English POVA Register, we would have done so.
“With regard to sanction, we followed the NMC guidance and considered the various sanctions available to us in ascending order.
“In our view, a suspension order is inappropriate, having regard to the fact that the registrant’s misconduct is fundamentally incompatible with continuing to be registered with the NMC.
“Therefore in our view a striking off order is the only appropriate sanction to protect the public, safeguard the public interest and maintain public confidence in the NMC. It is, in our view, also proportionate having regard to the gravity of the offences.”
A spokesperson for the care home said: “We welcome the verdict of the hearing which sends out the message that this type of behaviour is totally unacceptable and ensures that this individual will no longer be able to work with vulnerable people.
“These are historic accusations from several years back but we acted promptly and responsibly at the time in suspending him immediately, carrying out a thorough investigation and reporting the allegations to the relevant authorities including the Police and the NMC which led to his being suspended from the Register until this Hearing.”
