An elderly woman living with dementia has been left "traumatised" after suffering verbal abuse at the hands of a carer. The family of Elizabeth Anne Shipton captured video footage of carer Louise Harris screaming at Shipton, 81, while looking after her in Pontardawe.
Family speaks on Good Morning Britain
Appearing on ITV show Good Morning Britain, Elizabeth's daughter Tracy said her mum was "very, very traumatised" following the incident and now "can't be left alone" for extended periods. "They have had to give her sedatives to sleep at night," Tracy told hosts Richard Madeley and Kate Garraway. "She has night terrors. She has flashbacks. She can't be left alone now. The maximum is 10, 15 minutes, and she starts reliving it."
Footage shown on TV
The clip was played on the show, with Kate warning viewers beforehand: "We think it's important to show you so you can see the problem for yourselves. It's footage of an 81-year-old woman who is living with dementia and she's being abused by the woman paid to care for her." In the clip, Harris was heard shouting "I hope you die in your sleep", using profanity and referring to Elizabeth as "a horrible cow".
When it concluded, Kate and Richard looked stunned, with Kate taking a deep breath and Richard exclaiming: "Good God!" "That's the first time we've seen those pictures and heard them," he added. "What you saw there, what we all saw there was Anne, who was recovering from the bleed on the brain, being horribly abused by that woman, Louise Harris. Luckily that video helped the police investigation which led to being sentenced to three months in prison, even though she served less than half of that behind bars."
Family's ordeal
Tracy had travelled to Cardiff to collect a car for a few hours, leaving her mum with Harris for a few hours for a trial shift. When she saw on her phone what was happening, she said the "first thing I did was freeze in terror, sheer terror". She then called a neighbour to go to the house to help her mum. As the interview ended Kate told Tracy: "We're horrified on your behalf." Good Morning Britain airs at 6am on ITV.
