Care worker facing jail for sexually assaulting teens with mental health problems


A former mental health worker is facing a jail sentence after he admitted sexually assaulting three female teenage patients over almost three years.
Marcus Daniell kissed the female patients on their lips and groped their legs, breasts, or private parts while working as a senior support worker at privately run adolescent mental health units in South Devon.
Daniell, aged 46, of Torquay Road, Shaldon, pleaded guilty to 21 counts of sexual activity with a person with a mental disability by a care worker.
They cover a period between October 2015 and June 2017 and involve three girls who were aged 16 and 17 at the time.
He admitted kissing one girl on the lips at least 15 times, touching her leg and breast and penetrating her vagina with his finger.
He admitted touching a second girl on the leg, and kissing and groping the third complainant. He also admitted penetrating her vagina with his finger and putting his penis in her mouth.
Judge Peter Johnson adjourned his sentence until September and released him on bail with a condition that he does not contact the victims.
He told him: “Immediate custody is inevitable in this case. You should put your affairs in order.”
He was prosecuted after a police inquiry that followed concerns raised by the Care Quality Commission into the running of homes in Torquay and Chudleigh, both of which have now closed.