Carer jailed for sexually assaulting a resident while she was having seizures

A carer who sexually assaulted a young woman in a residential care facility while she was having a series of epileptic seizures has been jailed for six years.

A senior lawyer at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the case against Benjamin Poole, 21, of Somerville Street in Crewe, was one of the worst he had ever come across.

Poole carried out a series of serious sexual assaults on the woman, who is in her 20s, while she was having multiple epileptic fits, which she was prone to.

The victim became suspicious as she had a recollection of being sexually touched when she came round from the seizures. She suspected Poole as these recollections seemed to happen when he was on duty.

In November 2020, she arranged to buy an alarm clock that contained a covert camera so that she could film what happened when Poole was on duty and she next had a seizure. She always knew when the seizures were about to happen as she began to feel unwell.

On 19 November 2020, the victim could feel an episode coming on and pressed the Call button for a member of staff. Then she switched on the "Save" function on the camera inside the alarm clock, so it would retain the footage. She did this because she knew Poole was on duty.

When she came round from the seizures, she viewed the footage from the camera via her phone and was horrified to see Poole committing a number of sexual assaults on her over a period of 23 minutes while she was having the seizures.

She called a manager at the centre and showed them the footage. The police were called and Poole, unaware that he had been found out, was asked to go to a room with another member of staff. The police arrived and were shown a section of the footage and Poole was arrested.

At Chester Crown Court on 16 July 2021, Poole pleaded guilty to five sexual assaults against the victim and two counts of ill treatment by a care worker. On 12 August 2021 at Chester Crown Court he was sentenced to six years in prison and will be on the Sex Offenders Register for the rest of his life.

The Crown Prosecution Service also asked for a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to be imposed on Poole until further notice, that prevents him ever contacting the victim, working in a care home or working with vulnerable adults. The court agreed to this.

In a Victim Personal Statement, the woman Poole assaulted said she had gone from being a happy and positive person to being depressed and anxious and her epilepsy had worsened. But she said she was determined that the experience would not define her.

She spoke of her horror at seeing what Poole was doing to her when she was so vulnerable - a person who was supposed to be looking after her.

She spoke of how she had questioned herself and whether she had done anything that might have led to him treating her like that.

She added: "He wasn't thinking of me at all when he made the decision to sexually exploit me for his own benefit…I have experienced many difficult times throughout my life, however, I can honestly say that 19 November 2020 was one of the worst days of my life".

The case was dealt with by the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) unit of CPS Mersey-Cheshire.

Julie Harrison, a specialist RASSO prosecutor, made the initial charging decision on Poole. Julie said: “This case was particularly distressing for the victim as the offences took place in a care environment where she should have felt safe, secure, and protected. In fact, she was abused by this man whose role it was to care for her when she was at her most vulnerable and who abused her trust in the most despicable way.

“The victim showed courage and great initiative in obtaining visual evidence of what Poole was doing when she was unable to protect herself and in providing this to the Police when making her report.

“It was the responsibility of the Crown Prosecution Service to review all of the evidence and to ensure that the correct charges were brought to reflect these offences and the fact the victim had put her faith in the Police and the CPS to ensure justice was done.

“The CPS worked together with the Police to handle the case sensitively and to build the best possible case against Poole in order in order to bring charges which reflected not only the gravity of the abuse but also the fact it was committed by a care worker in a serious breach of trust.”

Simon Pover, who is also a Specialist RASSO prosecutor, prepared the case for court. He said: “This case, even within the context of the many disturbing matters we routinely face as specialist prosecutors dealing with serious sexual offences, is particularly shocking. This has been a team effort initiated by the resourcefulness and courage of the victim who not only involved the police but secured key evidence which was as incriminating as it was distressing. The charges prepared for court reflected serious offending carried out over several weeks culminating in the defendant being captured on video. As a team we built the strongest possible case at an early stage and were pleased to secure guilty pleas to all offences. The conduct, as reflected by the charges, merits the severity of the disposal. I wish to express my gratitude to the police, CPS colleagues and prosecuting counsel but most of all the victim and witnesses who enabled us to bring this offender to justice.“