A nurse who tied patients' call buzzers out of their reach and left them in soiled beds at their nursing home has been struck off the nursing register.

John Malcolm Margison, 59, was said to have slept in the lounge, watched television and read newspapers on the nightshift at Bronte Park Nursing Home, Haworth.

A panel of the Nursing and Midwifery Council agreed that Margison, who worked at the home from August 2000 to January 2001, was not fit to practice and guilty of misconduct.

Chairman of the panel Jonathan Ash-bridge said his bullying was "disgraceful and the public required protection."

He said: "He failed to recognise the uniqueness and dignity of each client."

Mr Margison, of Almondbury, Hudders-field, who failed to appear at the hearing, was found guilty of tying up nurse-call bells out of the reach of residents, handling residents inappropriately, failing to carry out checks and verbally abusing care workers and residents when he was nurse-in-charge.

Throughout the hearing in Wetherby, residents of the 29-bed home were only identified by letter, not name.

Care assistant Diane Bennett said she saw buzzers put out of the reach of residents and found some residents covered in faeces when Mr Margison, a Registered Mental Nurse since 1973, was in charge.

Mrs Bennett said Mr Margison failed to carry out proper checks and some residents were left wet and soiled as he "was sleeping in the lounge." She had seen him push one resident and drag another and was abusive when she confronted him.

"He didn't look after people properly," she said. "I thought 'I wouldn't want my mother treated like that'."

Brian Taylor, of Bingley, nurse manager at the time, said he had seen one resident whose skin was red and inflamed because she had not been turned.

"And by the state of the incontinence pad I didn't believe it had been changed during the night," he said.

"I expected the nurse in charge to visibly see every resident in the night to check on their condition."

Care worker Joanne Gavagan said she had seen Mr Margison verbally abuse patients and during a five-hour shift after giving medication he would watch television and read newspapers.