DETECTIVES FROM THE PSNI’S Public Protection Branch investigating the allegations of ill-treatment of patients at Muckamore Abbey Hospital arrested a 33-year-old man in the Antrim area this morning.

In an interview with the Irish News in August, the lead detective on the case Detective Chief Inspector Jill Duffie, said there was evidence of 1,500 offences on one ward at Muckamore Abbey Hospital, Co Antrim, which treats patients with severe mental and physical disabilities.

“There is something very difficult about watching this footage due to the vulnerability of the patients. It is very difficult to watch. I have seen the physical abuse of patients, yes,” she told BBC Radio Ulster.

An estimated 20 members of staff have been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation – the largest safeguarding investigation the PSNI has ever dealt with.

Human rights law group Phoenix Law told TheJournal.ie previously that the families are “distraught” that no one at a senior level intervened to halt the harm done to vulnerable patients.

It said that it has cross-party support for a full public inquiry into the systemic failings which allowed the abuse at Muckamore Abbey to occur.