Police arrest daughter for care home ‘rescue’
Police called to scene after retired nurse made snap decision to take dementia sufferer from facility
A retired nurse was arrested by police after attempting to “rescue” her 97-year-old mother from a care home so she could be with her family. Ylenia Angelis, 73, wheeled her mother out of her care home after hugging her for the first time in nine months. Police pursued Ms Angelis and arrested her on suspicion of assault, before driving her mother back to the facility. Campaigners said the incident shows the “lunacy” of rules preventing families from being with loved ones.
A RETIRED nurse was arrested by police after attempting to “rescue” her 97-year-old mother from a care home so she could be looked after by her family.
Ylenia Angelis, 73, wheeled her mother out of her care home on an impulse after hugging her for the first time in nine months. But police pursued Ms Angelis and officers arrested her on suspicion of assault, before driving her mother back to the facility.
Distressing footage posted on social media showed Ms Angelis’s mother, Tina Thornborough, a retired seamstress suffering from advanced dementia, looking confused as her daughter was placed in the back of a squad car.
Campaigners said the i ncident betrayed the “lunacy” of rules preventing families from being with loved ones in their final months and years.
The video footage was filmed by Ms Angelis’s daughter Leandra Ashton, 41, who said the family had reached “breaking point” after trying for months to take her grandmother home. “We were doing our last window visit before lockdown,” she told The Daily Telegraph. “My mum was very upset and asked if she could pass a bunch of roses through to my grandmother. When the care assistant opened the door, my mum said: ‘Let me go to my mother’.
“The care worker said ‘no’, but my mum just snapped and pushed her way into the room. The care worker started accusing my mum of assault, but she was just hugging my grandmother.”
At that point, they made the snap decision to wheel Ms Thornborough out of Northgate House in the town of Market Weighton, near York.
“My mum was a nurse since the age of 21, and has run care homes herself, so she knows how to look after elderly people,” Ms Ashton said. “We drove for a bit and parked at the local garden centre to catch our breath, and that’s when the police arrived.
“Social services told the police that my nan had to go back. My mum said ‘the only way you’ll take her back is if you arrest me’, so they did.
“Eventually, the police took her back. Then they de-arrested my mum, so we went home and had a strong cup of tea.”
If a person in a care home is judged to be unable to make decisions about their own care, deprivation of liberty rules mean they cannot be taken out of their care homes without permission from a social worker.
Ms Ashton said her family had been trying to convince the local authority to allow Ms Thornborough to come back home, as well as writing to their local MP and signing petitions.
Chris Noble, Assistant Chief Constable at Humberside Police, said: “These are incredibly difficult circumstances and we sympathise with all families who are in this position.” Police said Ms Angelis would not face charges over the incident. A Northgate House spokesman declined to comment.