A director at a £128m-a-year mental health charity has apologised after one of its care workers appeared in court to admit having sexual activity with one of the vulnerable people it cared for.

Carl O’Selmo, who had worked as a carer for 13 years, began a sexual relationship with a resident, who had a mental disorder, at a supported living facility.

The 45-year-old admitted four counts of sexual activity with the woman, 30, between 29 September 2022 and 31 January last year at a supported housing accommodation in Buckinghamshire.

The supported living facility is run by the charity Waythrough, a merger of Humankind and the Richmond Fellowship, which recorded a combined income of £128m for the financial year ending 31 March 2023, with each employing more than 1,000 members of staff.

Sarah Powell, defending at the Amersham Law Courts on Tuesday, told the judge there was evidence of the complainant “being very worried about informing any family”.

She said: “There is a suggestion Mr O’Selmo told her not to tell anybody because he would lose his job, his wife and his family.”

Prosecutors alleged this was a “coercion of a vulnerable female”. Ultimately a complaint was made to the complainant’s aunt, which led to the criminal investigation, the court heard.

Judge Kirsty Real adjourned the case until 22 November for a report to be prepared on O’Selmo, of Newport Pagnell in Milton Keynes, Bucks.

Maddy Smith, interim director of operations, quality and housing at Waythrough, said: “We’d like to take this opportunity to say how sorry we are that this happened to the person involved. A former member of staff abused their position while they were trusted to care for a vulnerable person.

“When senior management were made aware of his actions, they notified the police. The staff member was immediately suspended while we carried out an internal investigation which led to his dismissal for gross misconduct.

“The safety and security of the people we support is at the centre of everything we do. Following the incident, we extensively reviewed and improved the service’s practices and procedures.

"All staff are now required to have the higher-level enhanced Adult Social Care Certification, we’ve increased the frequency of our supervision sessions with workers, there is always more than one person working in the service at any time, and every person we help has a named secondary keyworker to give them additional support.

“An external audit commissioned by the service’s local authority after the improvements had been implemented rated it as ‘good’. We are constantly working to improve our standard of care.”