THE daughter of dementia patient who was slapped by a nurse in a care home says she has felt "physically sick everyday" since the incident.

Alison Barlow's mum, Joy Ward, was a resident at Connolly House Independent Mental Heath Hospital, in Weeley, at the time of the assault.

In October 2014, Mrs Ward, 85 - who is the grandmother of Strictly Come Dancing's ballroom dancer Robin Windsor - mistook a 'play fight' between Balasajeev Kumar and one of the home's health care assistants for a real fight and struck him from behind.

Kumar, who was convicted of assault by beating after the incident, turned around and slapped Mrs Ward in the face, giving her a black eye.

At a Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing, Kumar was struck off. He has already lodged an appeal.

Now daughter Mrs Barlow, 57, who lives in Langham, has spoken out.

She said: "I feel physically sick everyday that I allowed this happen to my mum.

"I feel like I have let my mum down."

The mum-of-one added: "The worst thing for me is this happened on a Friday and we didn't get a call from the home until Monday, after 5.30pm.

"I couldn't go in then because it was dinner and they like to get the residents settled, so I had to wait until the Tuesday to see my mum after she'd been assaulted.

"I was in the area that night [Friday] and that makes me feel even worse."

The Funky Voices choir singer added: "I wish I had been at either his court case of the NMC hearing to look him in the eye and tell him what I think of him after what he did to my mum."

Mrs Barlow decided not to pull her mum out of the home straight away, but after a year Mrs Ward, who was from Birch and worked as a sales assistant and in an opticians, was eventually moved to Blackbrook House, in Dedham, where she died in January.

Mrs Barlow added: "I wish my mum was still alive to see what has happened to him."

In a statement, Connolly House director Mark Venkatasami said: "Connolly House take the safety and care of its clients very seriously and we do not tolerate any forms of abuse.

"All the necessary measures were taken and reports were made to all relevant authorities, including the police, the Care Quality Commission, and the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group."