A BULLYING care home deputy manager who avoided going to jail "by a hair’s breadth" for mistreating two vulnerable residents in their 90s has been back in court.

Debra Bott had pleaded guilty earlier this year to two charges of ill-treating people at the Field View residential care home in Crabbs Cross.

And at Warwick Crown Court in April Bott, 54, of Alcester Road in Studley, at the time, was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for two years and ordered to do 250 hours of unpaid work and to pay £500 costs.

At the time Bott, who had originally denied the charges, was told by Judge Andrew Lockhart QC that she had "avoided custody by a hair’s breadth".

The judge reserved any breaches of the order to himself – and Bott found herself back in front of him after the Probation Service began breach proceedings against her.

Prosecutor Robert Lindsey said Bott, who had no legal representation, had seen a report on the alleged breaches.

Judge Lockhart observed that the breaches are said to have involved an alleged assault in a shop and failing to engage with the unpaid work.

And he told Bott: “I gave you the clearest possible warning about what would happen if you failed to comply.”

But Mr Lindsey said: “She wishes to contest that, and wishes to instruct a solicitor and barrister to represent her.”

So the judge adjourned the hearing for him to hear evidence about her alleged breaches.

That hearing will take place on September 9 at Worcester Crown Court, and Bott, who said that ‘because of all the media’ she had had to move and leave her job, was granted bail.

At the original hearing prosecutor Gerald Bermingham said the case involved the ill-treatment of a vulnerable man and a woman at the Field View care home, where Bott was the deputy manager.

Matters came to light after another staff member raised concerns with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) that Bott should not be working in the care system because she had "a terrible temper".

An investigation revealed that in 2012 Bott had been elbowed in the face assisting a 90-year-old man with personal hygiene.

Her reaction was to smack him hard to the back, causing a large hand print.

Another staff member said that in 2014 it was the norm for Bott to be "horrible" towards a 94-year-old female resident and to verbally abuse her.

The old lady had a curved spine, making it hard for her to raise her head, and staff members were concerned at the rough way Bott would grab her chin and pull her head up at meal times.

She was also seen pushing the old lady’s chair in, trapping her fingers between it and the table.

But when she was questioned Bott denied the allegations.

Glyn Samuel, defending, said Bott, who accepted her behaviour had been wholly unacceptable, had always worked in the care industry, but resigned once the CQC came in, and the only work she could get was in the bakery at a local supermarket.

Sentencing Bott, Judge Lockhart had told her: “Only a custodial sentence can be justified. I am just persuaded I can suspend it. But you have avoided custody by a hair’s breadth, and I reserve any breaches to myself.”