Six members of staff caught abusing vulnerable residents at a care home by an undercover journalist have been jailed.
Five others were given suspended sentences by a judge at Bristol Crown Court, who condemned the abuse they meted out to disabled patients at the Winterbourne View private hospital, at Hambrook, South Gloucestershire.
The 11 - nine support workers and two nurses - were caught in a BBC Panorama sting by a reporter with a hidden camera posing as a carer.
Wayne Rogers was jailed for his role in the abuse
The shocking footage showed residents being slapped, soaked in water, trapped under chairs, taunted, sworn at and having their hair pulled and eyes poked.
On one occasion three support workers forcibly held down a resident while a nurse forced paracetamol into her mouth.
Whistleblower Terry Bryan, a former nurse at the home, went to the BBC with his concerns after his complaints to owner Castlebeck and care watchdogs were ignored.
Allison Dove who also took part in the abuse
Journalist Joseph Carey recorded shocking footage during a five-week investigation in February and March last year and the programme was shown the following June.
A serious case review published in August criticised Darlington-based Castlebeck Ltd, which owned the hospital, for putting profits before humanity.
The 26-bed hospital opened in 2006 and by 2010 had a turnover of £3.7 million. The average weekly fee for a patient was £3,500.
Wayne told a resident 'Do you want me to grate your face off?'
Prosecutor Kerry Barker said care watchdogs failed to act on repeated warnings of "inhumane, cruel and hate-fuelled treatment" of patients.
"The so-called restraint techniques were used to inflict pain, humiliate patients and bully them into compliance with the demands of their carers," Mr Barker said.
"It is the Crown's case that generally the offences were motivated by hostility towards the victims based on their disabilities.
"The offenders were operating in groups; the offences involved an abuse of power; an abuse of trust; the victims were particularly vulnerable and on occasion the ill-treatment of a patient was sustained, with the consequences of serious psychological effects."
Graham Doyle helped restrain a patient and force paracetamol into her mouth
Mr Barker told the court that the five residents, Simone Blake, Simon Tovey, Louise Bissett, Louisa Deville and Lorraine Guildford, suffered greatly at the hands of the defendants.
Among the hours of graphic footage played to the court during the sentencing hearing was support worker Wayne Rogers telling Miss Blake: "Do you want me to get a cheese grater and grate your face off?
"Do you want me to turn you into a giant pepperoni?"
He also slapped Mr Tovey across the cheek and told him: "Do you want a scrap? Do you want a fight? Go on and I will bite your bloody face off."
Colleague Alison Dove said Miss Blake "loved pain" and then told her: "Simone, come here and I'll punch your face."
Dove also threatened Miss Bissett when she broke a window in the lounge with a chair.
She snarled at her: "Listen, in future I'm going to let you sit on the f****** floor, cos you don't deserve a chair."
On another occasion, Dove, Graham Doyle and Holly Draper restrained Miss Blake as Sookalingum Appoo forced paracetamol into her mouth.
Later during the same shocking incident Doyle put on a mock-German accent and, mimicking a Nazi guard, slapped her over the head with his gloves shouting: "Nein, nein, nein, nein."
Barristers representing the 11 defendants apologised on behalf of their clients but blamed the culture of Castlebeck - calling it a "disease", a "cancer" and a "fog" that had engulfed Winterbourne View.
The court was packed with members of the victims' families and journalists to see Judge Neil Ford QC, The Recorder of Bristol, pass sentence on the 11.
Holly Draper was jailed for 12 months
The judge condemned Castlebeck Ltd for the way Winterbourne View was run.
"It is common ground in this case that the hospital was run with a view to profit and with a scandalous lack of regard to the interests of its residents and staff," Judge Ford said.
"Many of the residents were extremely difficult to manage and in the absence of highly skilled carers were subjected to a miserable existence in which they were inappropriately restrained and punished.
"A culture of ill-treatment developed and as is often the case, cruelty bred cruelty. This culture corrupted and debased, to varying degrees, these defendants, all of whom are of previous good character.
"Complaints by residents were swept under the carpet and the concerns of family members ignored."
Judge Ford praised Mr Casey for the "unpleasant task" of collecting evidence of the ill-treatment of the residents, which was later broadcast on Panorama.
"His footage has provoked widespread and understandable feelings of revulsion," the judge said.
"It has also led to the closure of an institution in which systematic abuse of vulnerable people would otherwise have continued."
Sookalingum Appoo forced paracetamol into one resident's mouth
Judge Ford said he sentenced the defendants on the basis of their guilty pleas and not for the totality of the abuse at Winterbourne View.
"These offences constituted a gross breach of trust and power," he said.
"Your victims were particularly vulnerable and have been significantly affected by your acts of abuse in the context of a regime of continuing abuse and on occasions you offended as part of a group."
Judge Ford said one particularly nasty incident involved Doyle and Rogers restraining Miss Blake while taunting her with sweets.
"The image of you both enjoying sweets while that young woman was being treated in the manner I have described is truly disturbing in its callous disregard for her comfort and well- being," he said.
Addressing Rogers, a senior support worker, the judge said: "Your overall conduct amounted to physical and mental ill-treatment, often of a particularly cruel nature, to extremely vulnerable people who were in your care.
"In the face of behaviour that was not particularly challenging, your first resort was to use wholly inappropriate methods of restraint, often coupled with taunting and assault."
Judge Ford told Dove, a support worker: "I have read the pre-sentence report in which you say you were originally shocked by the ill-treatment of residents at the hospital but that you became desensitised to it over time.
"You suggested it was born of boredom during long shifts and that you had viewed patients as playthings."
Jason Gardiner was given a four-month jail term suspended for two years and 200 hours of unpaid work.
Judge Ford said Gardiner, a former prison officer turned support worker, pleaded guilty to two offences on the basis of "reckless ill-treatment".
"I accept that in relation to count 28 you were responding to a genuine emergency," he said.
"In relation to both counts, by any objective standard, your use of force was excessive.
"Having said that, I am satisfied that the ill-treatment in your case is of a completely different scale to that of your co-defendants, whose offending I have already described.
"The pre-sentence report observes that you are barely coping with your guilt, remorse and regret."
Michael Ezenagu was a support worker at the care home
Charlotte Cotterell was sentenced despite suffering significant intellectual impairment.
The judge said Cotterell, a support worker, worked at Winterbourne View for two-and-a-half years. Handing her a suspended sentence and 200 hours of unpaid work, he said:
"You accepted that your conduct had been disgusting. A report from Dr Young, a forensic psychologist, indicates that you have an IQ of 67 - consistent with significant intellectual impairment.
"Despite this, you have considerable social skills and have been able to obtain employment."
The former staff admitted 38 charges of either neglect or ill-treatment of people with severe learning difficulties. They were sentenced as follows.
- Wayne Rogers, 32, was jailed for two years.
- Alison Dove, 25, was jailed for 20 months.
- Graham Doyle was jailed for 20 months.
- Jason Gardiner, 43, was given a four-month jail term was suspended for two years. Gardiner was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
- Michael Ezenagu, 29, was given a six-month jail term was suspended for two years. Ezenagu was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
- Danny Brake, 27, was given a four-month jail term suspended for two years. Brake was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
- Charlotte Cotterell, 22 was given four-month jail term was suspended for two years. Cotterell was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and complete 12 months supervision.
- Holly Draper, 24, was jailed for 12 months.
- Neil Ferguson, 28, was given a six-month jail term was suspended for two years. Ferguson was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
- Sookalingum Appoo, 59, was jailed for six months.
- Kelvin Fore, 33, was jailed for six months.