April 1982 Nurse guilty of child abuse is spared prison sentence A nurse who ill treated children escaped a prison sentence after a judge said it would offend his sense of justice The woman admitted 8 charges of ill treating mentally handicapped children who were in her care. She was given a six month prison sentence, suspended for a year Ten of the charges, which she denied will be left on file. Judge Malcolm Ward said most of the eight offences were committed three years ago (1979) He told Susan Wilkes, 30, of Brownhills, near Walsall, West Midlands that he had considered a immediate prison sentence Wilkes was the superintendent nurse at a handicap centre in Walsall until she resigned after a private inquiry by a barrister The eight charges of ill treatment she admitted took place between 1976 and 1981. They included forcing a girl to drink salt and vinegar, making a girl stand for a long period in the rain, pulling a boys hair, hitting a girl in the face and kicking her in the stomach, and forcing a boy into a red plastic play barrel Wilkes who is now a district nurse in Walsall would not comment after the case Mr Ian Morris, defending told the court his client felt she was a “scapegoat” for the failure of the Megan Du Boisson home for the mentally handicapped