THE manager of a Southampton care home at the centre of allegations of neglect and ill treatment of residents considered leaving her job, a court heard.

Margaret Priest, who ran The Briars in Bitterne Park, pictured above, told police she thought about quitting during conversations with district nurse Jackie French in the run up to the closure of the facility.

In a recording played to jurors at Southampton Crown Court, Priest said Mrs French once interrupted her during a telephone call by putting her hands on the table in front of her.

She told police interviewing her: “I did think about leaving, because I felt I wasn’t carrying my job out right.”

Priest and the home’s owner Annette Hopkins are accused of failing to adhere to the most basic standard of care and practice.

The prosecution claim residents at the home, which was closed down in 2007, were left in urine-soaked beds, several suffered bed sores and ulcers, and others were so ill they should have been in nursing homes.

Hopkins, 64, of Thorold Road, Bitterne Park, and Priest, 56, of Lydgate Green, Hightown, deny charges involving 16 residents.

Proceeding