Moment drunk carer shouts 'I hope you die in your sleep, you f****** horrible cow' at 81-year-old dementia patient after downing bottle of vodka

Published: 17:02, 28 July 2026 | Updated: 17:29, 28 July 2026 A drunk carer told a dementia patient she hoped she would 'f****** die' in her sleep and called her a 'f****** horrible cow' after downing a bottle of vodka. Louise Harris, 42, was jailed for three months after being branded 'heartless and cruel' as a court heard she also demanded to know where Elizabeth Shipton, 81, kept her money. But Mrs Shipton's family said they would appeal against the jail term, arguing it was too lenient and claiming that the 'raging' judge had his 'hands tied' by sentencing guidelines. Harris pleaded guilty to being a care worker who ill-treated the victim and to criminal damage but had a charge of attempted robbery – brought because of her demand for money – dropped. Video from the elderly woman's bedroom showed Harris, the family's trusted former neighbour, on the floor next to Mrs Shipton's bed as she shouted: 'Where is your money?' When the elderly woman protested that Harris – on her first day of a trial as Mrs Shipton's carer – was 'hurting her' by leaning on her chest, she screeched: 'I don't care, where's your money?' Harris then lay back on the floor and wailed as the dementia sufferer remained in bed with her eye mask propped up on her forehead. In another clip Harris, unsteady on her feet, screamed in Mrs Shipton's face as she sat knitting in her pyjamas and slippers. Louise Harris hurled abuse at Elizabeth Shipton, a dementia sufferer, on the first day as her carer, branding her a 'f****** horrible cow' Harris, who the court heard was a recovering alcoholic and 'succumbed to temptation' when she drank a bottle of vodka at Mrs Shipton's house, received a three-month sentence The elderly woman's knitting appeared to have been dumped on the floor as she said to Harris: 'Look what you've done.' Harris shouted back: 'Look what I've done? Look what you've done. You're a nasty b****.' The footage also showed her sitting alongside the bed shouting at the patient to 'sleep now' before turning on to her hands and knees as she continued to demand loudly that Mrs Shipton 'sleep'. During another outburst Mrs Shipton told Harris to 'go' before the carer screamed: 'F*** you over and all, you b****.' In other clips Harris told the white-haired woman, who was often lying in a hospital-style bed during the footage with a commode nearby, that she had 'tried to be nice' but that the patient had been 'mean' and should be 'ashamed'. Mrs Shipton's daughter Tracy said her mother was 'horrifically traumatised' and her mental scars 'will never go'. At Swansea crown court Judge Huw Rees said Harris showed a 'callous disregard' for Mrs Shipton's welfare. And prosecutor Abud Hussain said the victim had lain helpless in her bed thinking she was going to die. He added Harris's relentless aggression had ruined Mrs Shipton's memories of her family home, where she had lived for 60 years. In one clip Harris put her arm on Mrs Shipton's chest and demanded to know where her money was Harris shouted 'I hope you f****** die in your sleep' and later waved a large knife in the kitchen, a court heard The elderly woman had a seven-week stay in Morriston hospital after suffering from sepsis late last year. After her husband, who she had been with since the age of 16, died in January, Tracy said her mother had taken to knitting as a way of coping with her grief. But she claimed Harris ripped up the knitting while drunk. 'My mother had come out of hospital in December, my dad's funeral was in January and then this happened in February. Louise knew everything my mother was going through,' Tracy said. During Harris's sentencing, her lawyer Andrew Evans said she was genuinely remorseful for her 'wholly unacceptable behaviour', which he said was the result of her finding the vodka in the fridge. The court heard Harris was a recovering alcoholic who had 'succumbed to temptation'. Tracy said she had seen the abuse when she checked her mother's security camera, calling the police to her home after Harris waved a large knife in the kitchen. She said officers had to 'break the door down' and found Harris 'slumped on the floor' when they entered. Tracy added Harris had been a carer since she was 18 and said: 'I checked everything with her - she was trained on dementia, manual handling, incontinence. I'll never get my head around how she could do this.' Mrs Shipton's family were waiting for a care package from social services and had advertised on Facebook for a temporary carer in the interim. Harris answered the call and Tracy, who was present for the first hour of the carer's planned four-hour shift, had 'seemed amazing' during that time. 'Almost as soon as I left she turned,' Tracy said. Mrs Shipton (left) was 'horrifically traumatised' by Harris's actions, according to her daughter Tracy (right) Harris's rage appeared to have been sparked by Mrs Shipton accidentally pressing her emergency alarm, which phoned a crisis response helpline. But Tracy said this happened often and the helpline operator quickly ended the call after Harris said everything was fine. After the three-month sentence – of which 40 per cent will be served in custody – was handed down, Tracy said 'the judge's hands were tied' by sentencing guidelines. 'You could see he was raging,' she added. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had previously dropped an extra charge against Harris and Tracy said it 'beggars belief that they couldn't see any physical assault there'. 'For her to be serving just over a month is unbelievable when you think what we've had since February. We've been living this day in, day out, with my mother getting worse. 'Louise told my mum she lived up the road and would be coming back. My mum can't be left on her own at all now. She keeps thinking Louise is going to come back and she has such vivid flashbacks that she's been put on sedatives. 'The effect is my mum will not wear the lifeline device because she thinks if she presses it the same thing will happen. We've had to fit a new front door with glass in the middle so she can see if someone is on the other side.' She said she wanted all homes where carers attended to be fitted with cameras 'because what if we didn't have this camera?'