THE trial of a Bradford nursing home boss and seven care staff today collapsed after the judge ended the prosecution of the final two defendants.

Stephen Pelkowski, the manager of Highdell Nursing Home in Idle, was discharged from the dock at Bradford Crown Court, along with Phillippa Robinson, a senior nurse and registered mental health nurse.

They had denied one charge of wilful neglect of a person who lacks capacity, relating to elderly dementia sufferer, Edward Hinnells.

Earlier this week, six defendants in the case were acquitted by the jury of the same allegation.

They were: Jennifer Cross, 60, a senior care assistant, of The Green, Idle; Nicki Kassama, 30, a carer, of Wrose Mount, Wrose, Shipley; Valerie James, 58, a senior carer, of Stonegate Road, Eccleshill, Bradford; Desmond Crowley, 59, a staff nurse and registered mental health nurse, of Hazelhurst Brow, Daisy Hill, Bradford; Gerard McDermott, 58, a registered mental health nurse, of Maria Street, Ilkley; and Piotr Czajkowski, 49, a cleaner, of Ravenscliffe Avenue, Ravenscliffe, Bradford.

They were found not guilty on the direction of Judge Colin Burn.

Today it was the turn of Mr Pelkowski, 51, of Lodge Hill, Addingham, and Ms Robinson, 57, of Hall Royd, Shipley, to walk free from court.

Judge Burn discharged the jurors, thanking them for their "enthusiastic and good natured participation in the case".

He stayed the indictment, saying there would be no retrial and the proceedings were at an end.

"There has been a lot of legal argument in this case. It has revolved around evidence which was clearly not before the Crown Prosecution Service  (CPS) when the decision was made to bring the prosecution in the first place, the judge told the court.

"There were references to a number of outside agencies who had not given statements or provided evidence for the CPS to consider. That evidence should have been obtained and because it was not, it is simply not fair for these defendants to be tried."

He told the jury there was no dispute that the photographs showing the state of Mr Hinnells' room, taken on December 19, 2013, were accurate.

But in the cases of the six defendants cleared earlier this week, there was no evidence they were even on duty at the home that day.

The trial could have proceeded against Mr Pelkowski and Ms Robinson on the "very narrow issue" of whether Mr Hinnells was neglected between December 19 and 20, 2013, but that was never the basis of the prosecution's case.

The Crown had accused the eight on trial of variously neglecting Mr Hinnells over a period of several months.

Judge Burn yesterday ruled that Mr Pelkowski and Ms Robinson could not have a fair trial on the basis on which the case was opened to the jury.

The judge put a reporting restriction in place to give the CPS time to consider whether to appeal against his abuse of process ruling which was lifted today.

This morning, it was revealed that the decision had been made not to appeal Judge Burn's decision to end the trial against the remaining two defendants.

A CPS spokesman said: "We felt that there was sufficient evidence to put before a jury in support of a prosecution of all those involved with the care of Mr Hinnells, given the conditions that Mr Hinnells was found to be living in.

"However, we respect the decision of the Judge to stop the case, and we will not be appealing."