Police have arrested two women and a man in connection with an investigation into the alleged mistreatment of residents at a former care home in Clacton.

All three were staff at the Carnarvon Lodge Residential Care Home for the elderly in Carnarvon Road.

Detectives and uniform officers carried out the arrests at three houses in Clacton at about 7am today.

A 40-year-old man and two women, aged 20 and 35 - who all live in the Clacton area - were taken to Clacton Police Station where they were today being questioned by officers.

An Essex Police spokesman said: "Detectives arrested three people early this morning in connection with an inquiry into the alleged mistreatment of patients of the former Carnarvon Lodge Residential Care Home for the elderly in Clacton.

"The man and two women are all former staff at the home."

He confirmed they had been arrested from three separate addresses in the town. Police raided the home, which was registered to its current owners by Essex County Council in 1997, at the end of October last year.

At that stage two people were taken into custody and quizzed by police officers as part of a joint investigation with the county council. They were later released on bail until March 2.

Those arrests came a day after social services had carried out an inspection at the home.

The home, which had 15 residents at the time, was subject to two visits each year and the one previous to that had been in February last year.

The day after the original arrests social services confirmed it had received complaints about the home dating back six months.

An application to cancel the registration of the Carnarvon Lodge Residential Care Home was granted on October 21. The home closed the next day with all 15 residents moved elsewhere.

The site of the Carnarvon Lodge Residential Care Home

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