TWO staff members at a specialist hospital unit who were filmed mistreating vulnerable patients lost challenges against their convictions at the Court of Appeal today.

Peter Bennett, 55 and Matthew Banner, 44, were found guilty of ill-treatment of patients at Whorlton Hall, a 17-bed independent unit for people with complex needs near Barnard Castle, County Durham and sentenced in January.

The men were recorded by undercover BBC Panorama reporter Olivia Davies, who used a hidden camera to expose the poor treatment patients received behind closed doors at the hospital unit in 2019.