A CARE home worker from Pontypool was acquitted yesterday after a jury found him not guilty of ill treating a severely disabled man.

Phillip Forward, 51, of The Cottages, Pontnewynydd, walked free from Cardiff Crown Court yesterday after the jury, made up of five women and seven men, took less than two hours over two days to reach a not guilty verdict.

Mr Forward had denied ill treatment or neglect of a person who lacks capacity.

He had been accused of placing 50-year-old Andrew Thomas in a bear hug and, in another incident, kneeling on his back placing one hand over his mouth.

The allegations dated back to 2010, when Mr Forward was working as an auxiliary nurse at Twyn Glas residential care home in Blackwood.

The Aneurin Bevan Health Board-run facility houses five residents, including Mr Thomas, who is prone to selfharm.

Mr Forward’s former colleague Jennifer Woodford told the court that at around 3am on December 20 that year Mr Forward grabbed Mr Thomas roughly and forcibly put him on his side.

But it was Mr Forward’s defence that this never happened and that it was he and his colleague Annette Vaughan who went into Mr Thomas’ room that night.

He told the court Mr Thomas was “very demanding”

but said he never tested his patience.

Speaking after the verdict, Mr Forward told the Argus he had been through 13 months of “absolute hell”.

He said: “I’m glad that I have finally been vindicated because I told the truth throughout.”