A WOMAN is calling for CCTV cameras to be installed in care homes after her mother was repeatedly sexually abused by a senior assistant at a Haydock care home.

The abuser, Derek Rigby, was caught carrying out sexual acts with the victim, who was in her 80s, after the daughter, who wasn't sure whether to believe what her mother was telling her, hid a 'nanny camera' in the room.

The victim's daughter, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said the family “feel strongly that having CCTV cameras in care homes would act as a huge deterrent to this sort of thing happening again".

She said: “There may be privacy issues, but even if the cameras were just in the corridors, they would monitor how long staff were spending in the residents' rooms.

“He was supposed to be in the room to deliver medication, which he did, but then he closed the door and abused her.”

Rigby, 44, who is married with two children, pleaded guilty to four charges of sexual activity with a person with a mental illness at Liverpool Crown Court.

He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, automatically barred from working with vulnerable adults or children again and put on the sex offenders register.

The court heard how Rigby had entered the woman's room to dispense medicine, but had closed the door and carried out sexual acts including undoing the woman's bra, groping her breasts and rubbing his crotch against her.

Judge Andrew Menary QC watched the footage recorded by the victim's family on the camera, which was activated by movement, in court.

He said: “Anyone who has seen the footage would be shocked and horrified by the gross breach of trust displayed.”

The offences took place at Colliers Croft Care Home in Clipsley Lane, between December 2013 and June 2014.

The incriminating footage was captured just two days after the camera was hidden in the room, and Rigby was suspended on June 26 and arrested on July 3.

Mike Stephenson, prosecuting, said: “At first, Rigby said that she was the instigator and he yielded to temptation. As the police interviews go on, he conceded it was his fault.”

Summing up, the judge said: “People with elderly relatives in care homes are entitled to expect that their loved ones will be safe and cared for appropriately, that they will not be subjected to systematic sexual abuse in the hands of someone in a senior position.”

Judge Menary QC took into account Rigby's guilty plea, remorse and previous “exemplary character” but described the crimes as “pre-meditated and pre-planned”.

The judge commended the family, saying they had “shown enterprise in employing the inventive method that brought this to light in a way which could never be refuted by this man".

Rigby, of Hawkley Hill, Wigan, had been working at the care home since July 2013 and came with six years' experience as a care worker.

Defending, Joseph Kotrie-Monson said: "Mr Rigby was suffering stress at the time and had been working long shifts.

"He shows remorse and has an otherwise unblemished character.

"His life is in tatters but his friends and family are all standing by him and have written numerous character references pleading for a non-custodial sentence."