Shropshire stress therapist hit her 87-year-old mother during row

Nurse Amanda Burns punched her defenceless 87-year-old mother repeatedly in the face after getting into an argument with her at home, a hearing heard.

She then dragged her sister along the floor by her hair after she came round to try and intervene.

Burns had been employed by South Staffordshire and Shropshire NHS Foundation Trust as a community learning disabilities nurse.

But a Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) conduct panel struck her off the register with a ban for life.

Burns, from Crewe, specialised in using relaxation techniques and behaviour modification to help patients deal with pain or stress.

But the hearing was told how, during the argument, she flew into a rage and slammed her "vulnerable" mother onto a sofa, before shaking her violently by the shoulders.

She then bent her thumb back and hit her in the face "three or four times", the hearing heard.

When her beaten and desperate elderly mother tried to call her other daughter for help, Burns snatched her mobile phone from her.

Her mother then fled and locked herself in the toilet.

The sister then called back and rushed round to her mother's home when she realised Burns was there and arrived to find Burns shouting and screaming and blocking the door.

When she tried to enter the house and help her stricken mother, Burns grabbed her sister's hair with both hands and pulled and shook her until she collapsed on the floor.

Burns was arrested and pleaded not guilty at Macclesfield Magistrates Court, claiming self-defence.

But in May last year, she was convicted of two counts of assault by battery and ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid community work within 12 months.

Burns was also issued with a restraining order forbidding her from contacting her mother and sister for 12 months. The NMC conduct panel found her current fitness to practice had been impaired by reason of her conviction.

Panel chair Andy Thompson said: "The panel has received no evidence of insight or remediation from Ms Burns.

"She has not provided the panel with any assurances that she is remorseful for her actions and her not guilty plea indicates a lack of ownership for her actions.

"Furthermore, the restraining order granted to the two victims shows that Ms Burns poses an ongoing threat."

The panel directed that Burns' name be struck off the NMC register.

Mr Thompson said: "Ms Burns' conviction is for a serious, violent offence. One of the victims was an elderly vulnerable woman.

"Ms Burns has not expressed any remorse for her actions."

Burns, who did not attend the hearing in Stretford, east London, was banned from nursing for good.