A FORMER nursing assistant who worked at Calderstones for more than four years today said she had moved her family away from the controversial medium secure unit because she was scared to let her children play out.

But boss of Calderstones NHS Trust Russ Pearce defended the hospital and said he would have no concerns about living at the bottom of the drive of the complex in Whalley.

Adele Harrington, 30, said security at the medium secure unit was "abysmal" and she was so concerned she moved from Mitton Road in Whalley to Clayton-le-Moors because she was frightened to let her son play in his own garden.

She said patients from Calderstones were allowed to go shopping in supermarkets in Blackburn, Accrington and Burnley, accompanied by a member of staff.

She contacted the Lancashire Evening Telegraph after it was revealed that people who had committed manslaughter, arson, child sex offences and kidnapping have been housed in the medium secure unit in recent months, prompting Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans to call for more information about patients and assurances over security. Mrs Harrington said: "I feel privileged because I know who these people are and I can drag my children away from them in supermarkets.

"But I don't think it is right that other people could be standing in a check-out queue with their youngsters, not knowing that they have one of these people standing right next to them."

Mrs Harrington also told how:

A member of staff often escorted up to three patients at a time through the hospital grounds.

Patients were allowed out to erect furniture in families' gardens as part of a community project.

Patients were allowed on day trips -- including visits to Blackburn Rovers' matches at Ewood Park. Patients who behaved well earned 'free time' and were allowed to go to their own social club.

A member of staff may be responsible for up to five patients at a time on a ward -- a practice which has been criticised by unions.

Mrs Harrington said: "When I started working at Calderstones it catered for people with learning difficulties, but when that section was closing down I applied to transfer to the new unit.

"The clients now are totally different to those previously. There are paedophiles, rapists and arsonists in there and I don't think the people of Whalley realise how much it has changed and how serious the offences are that people in there have committed.

"I don't think these people should be allowed out into the community at all -- even if it is just to go shopping. If these people kick-off it can take up to four or five staff to restrain them, yet they are let out to supermarkets with just one staff member."

Mr Pearce said nothing that Mrs Harrington had said was of concern to him.

"I don't think any of it concerns me. These things are common practice. Not everybody in here is detained and it would be inappropriate for us to stop them doing these things.

"Everyone in here is subject to a risk assessment and will only be allowed to do things if we feel it is safe.

"A lot of staff live in the area and continue to live in the area. When I talk to people in the village they don't have these issues.

"I would have no concerns about living at the bottom of the drive."

Mrs Harrington said some patients tried to abscond from the unit while being moved between buildings on the site and she was appalled to discover a housing estate is being built nearby.

She went on: "When we lived in Whalley, my little boy went to Whalley School and I used to worry about him all the time because I knew there was a risk of patients getting out.

"I can't believe houses are being built so close to the West Drive section of the unit where the worst patients are kept and there is no way a school should be built there.

"I think that children in Whalley are in danger and there should be a 20ft-high wall built around Calderstones."

Mrs Harrington said she left Calderstones when she went on maternity leave last year and never returned.

A union official confirmed that she had worked at the hospital and did not leave because of any disciplinary matters.