A MUM has hit out at a learning disabilities charity after a client in its care put their hands around her daughter’s throat in a supermarket car park.

Bicester mum Paula Stevens said the woman in her 30s should not have been in a public place after the incident involving daughter Bethany, eight, in the Morrison’s car park in Banbury.

National charity Hft said it was “very concerned” by the incident and was changing how the woman was cared for, including keeping her away from crowds. She will also be interviewed by police.

Mrs Stevens said they were going to get a trolley at the Swan Close Road store on Wednesday, December 29, when the woman, who was with a carer, walked towards them.

She said: “I noticed her glaring at me and then she just put her hands out around Beth’s throat.”

Mrs Stevens, 37, is a mental health nurse and used her training to release the woman’s grip.

She said: “Beth screamed and I shouted ‘get off’ and grabbed her thumb and removed her hands. It’s a technique we’re taught and had I not known it, it could have been worse.”

Mrs Stevens, who works at the NHS Littlemore Hospital, Oxford, said: “For her to have attacked in that way, in her agitated state, didn’t happen suddenly, it’s built up over a day. Someone of that level of unpredictability should not have been out in a public place.”

She said Beth was usually “outgoing and over-excited” but was withdrawn in the days after the attack.

The charity, which has a residential home in Banbury, said it did “regret the distress that was caused”.

But it said there were “no signs” of the woman being agitated prior to the incident. She had been risk-assessed and the carer “had been trained to provide appropriate support”, it added.

This had the backing of a psychologist and Oxfordshire County Council, responsible for social care.

It said: “The support worker reported that she was putting money into the slot to release a trolley when the incident occurred.

“She turned and saw what was happening, shouting for the woman to release the child as the mother reacted very swiftly to separate them.”

Adrian King, service manager for Hft South Oxfordshire, said: “I have had a meeting with the police and have informed them that we have reviewed the places that she can be supported to go and ensured that she will not go where there are any crowds for the time being.”

Police spokesman Chris Kearney said officers were investigating. He said: “We are waiting to interview a woman in connection with this matter.”