A MENTAL health worker kicked a frail 84-year-old dementia sufferer across the back in a care home outburst, watchdogs have ruled.

Sebastian Neequaye struck the male pensioner at the Lindisfarne Care Home, in Chester-le-Street, and screamed “get off” after he was seen playing with a chair.

The 62-year-old father-of-three was cleared of assault during a trial at Durham Crown Court in 2010 after Judge Christopher Prince noted his unblemished record.

Neequaye claimed he had been the target of a conspiracy and the story had been fabricated because he refused time off for one of the employees.

But now a panel of the Nursing and Midwifery Council have imposed an 18-month suspension on the carer.

Michael Cann, chairman of the NMC hearing, said: “At the outset the registrant denied the allegations. His case was that the incidents were fabricated to get him into trouble. He believed there was a conspiracy against him.

“The panel found no evidence of this. It did not consider it credible that colleagues would have organised such a conspiracy or why people involved would have co-operated.”

Neequaye was seen to strike the patient on March 8, 2009, at around 11.30pm when he “kicked the patient across the buttocks and bottom of his legs” after grabbing him by the shoulders.

And the following morning, during a hand-over meeting, Neequaye described the resident as having behaved like a “complete ****”.

Margaret Roe, an operations manager at the home, said she had never known him “to lose his temper with patients”.

But the panel said: “Ms Roe had witnessed him become irate with colleagues. She further told the panel there had been numerous disciplinary issues involving poor drug administration, sleeping on duty, failing to follow home procedures and making derogatory remarks.”

Speaking after the court trial in 2010, Neequaye claimed the allegations had ripped a hole in his life. The experienced mental health worker, of Wideopen, North Tyneside, has had a nervous breakdown and split from his partner.

And during the 12-month period before his case was heard in court, Neequaye said he had been unable to work, leaving him on the brink of financial ruin.

At the time he said: “It was hell. I had put so much into my career and to have it all destroyed is awful. Nursing has been everything I have lived for but now I don’t know what I will do.”

Mr Neequaye had worked as a mental health nurse in Newcastle for more than 20 years. He had worked at the Lindisfarne Nursing Home, in Chester-le-Street, for 10 years as a bank nurse at the time the allegation was made against him.

The NMC panel chairman, Michael Cann, said: “The registrant’s actions caused direct harm to patient A. Although the charges relate to an isolated incident, the panel has heard that the registrant does have a lengthy disciplinary record and has previously been abusive about a patient.

“The kick was clearly deliberate. The registrant has continually denied the allegations. He has not expressed any regret or apology for his actions, although he did express regret at a patient being hurt while he was on duty.”

He added: “The panel decided that the registrant’s actions of abuse are so serious that they are fundamentally incompatible with his continued registration with the NMC.

“The panel has taken into account his serious financial circumstances but decided that the need to protect the public and maintain public confidence in the profession outweighs this.”

Neequaye was handed an 18-month interim suspension order.