A care worker has avoided jail after he was caught on camera abusing an ‘exceptionally vulnerable’ autistic man.
Raja Khan, 29, was filmed on a hidden camera abusing Ollie Hopton, 20, at the Nursery Road Care Home in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, in 2017.
Khan called Mr Hopton ‘a lazy, lazy a***hole’, dragging him out of bed, poking him repeatedly and, on one occasion, throwing imitation punches near him.
Khan had worked in the care industry for 10 years, but mainly with adults before being made a team leader at the care home, run by London Care Partnership which is now known as Elysium Healthcare.
Care worker Raja Khan (pictured) has avoided jail after he was found guilt to ill-treatment and wilful neglect after footage showed him abusing an ‘exceptionally vulnerable’ autistic man in 2017 at the Nursery Road Care Home
Last month Khan, from Hounslow, was found guilty of ill-treatment and wilful neglect at Guildford Crown Court.
Passing sentence at the same court on Friday, Judge Rufus Taylor said Khan lacked training and that there was ‘a lack of supervision further up the chain.’
The judge said: ‘In my judgement, you just couldn’t cope with him.’
Khan was jailed for 12 months, suspended for 18 months.
He was also ordered to do 250 hours of unpaid work and 30 days of rehabilitation activity, and banned from working with children and vulnerable adults.
Mr Hopton’s mother, Caroline Hopton, had installed the hidden camera in his room due to problems at a previous care home.
The footage uncovered Khan dragging her son out of bed on an occasion when she was unable to visit him.
Further footage recorded from between July and September 2017 showed a total of 11 instances of ill-treatment, of which Judge Taylor said the ‘shadow boxing’ was the ‘most disturbing’ and had caused Mr Hopton ‘great distress’.
Footage from Ollie Hopton’s (pictured) room, set up by his mother Caroline, shows Khan abusing Mr Hopton on 11 different occasions from between July to September 2017
Reading a statement at Khan’s sentencing on Friday, Ms Hopton said the abuse had left her son, who requires constant care due to his condition, ‘depressed, withdrawn and anxious’.
Ms Hopton said: ‘Raja Khan wilfully took advantage of Oliver’s vulnerability and committed the most heinous breach of trust by abusing and neglecting my son, behind closed doors, while in his care at London Care Partnership, now operating as Elysium Healthcare.
‘When Oliver left the Nursery Road home, he was emotionally and mentally broken, as was I. The images of the abuse that took place will forever haunt me and literally broke my heart.’
However, she said, since leaving the care home he has recovered and is ‘thriving’, adding: ‘I finally have my son back, not just in person but also in spirit.’
Speaking before the hearing, Ms Hopton said she does not feel the current vetting procedures are stringent enough, claiming the case of her son is not an isolated incident.
The footage uncovered shows Khan dragging her son out of bed on an occasion when she was unable to visit him
In another clip, Khan throws mock punches at Mr Hopton which Judge Taylor described as the ‘most disturbing’ and had caused Mr Hopton ‘great distress’
In one of the other videos Khan can be heard calling Mr Hopton ‘a lazy, lazy a***hole’. Mr Hopton’s mother said at Khan’s hearing: ‘The images of the abuse that took place will forever haunt me and literally broke my heart’
Ms Hopton said: ‘Abuse and neglect on those with autistic or learning disabilities and vulnerable people in general, is rife.
‘There needs to be reform among the whole care system because its a diabolical mess. The recruitment practices are very, very questionable.
‘The care providers are so desperate with their staffing levels all the time so they seem to recruit anyone who comes along and perhaps aren’t suited to the care of vulnerable people.
‘Sadly, this is like a money-making business for many providers, where all the money stays at the top and doesn’t filter down to the ground-level. This needs to change.’
Ms Hopton is also running campaigns to improve the lives of others who suffer from learning disabilities.
She aims to raise the standard of care provisions and prevent those with learning disabilities being detained under the Mental Health Act.
Ms Hopton said the abuse had left her son ‘depressed, withdrawn and anxious’. But since leaving the care home, she told the court her son has recovered and is ‘thriving’, adding: ‘I finally have my son back, not just in person but also in spirit’
The single mother is keen to reveal her son’s experience to highlight the extent of the issue, and ensure other parents don’t suffer vicariously due to abuse of their children as she has done.
Ms Hopton said: ‘There needs to be serious intervention but its a massive undertaking as the care system is an establishment within itself.
‘But it has to start somewhere, and its good that parents are starting to speak out and these cases are getting into the public domain.
‘These are not isolated incidents. He was not singled out. Its just that I was on the case and followed my gut instinct.’
Elysium Healthcare said: ‘The home concerned was not in our ownership at the time this occurred and therefore we cannot comment on the detail of the case.
‘We absolutely do not tolerate abuse at any level. We work hard to make sure that we enrich the lives of all those who live in our services and we work openly and transparently with external bodies in providing a high level of care.’