A care worker convicted of assaulting a "volatile" resident is to appeal against the verdict.

Jane Day's lawyer told magistrates that she did not accept her conviction.

Day was ordered to do 80 hours unpaid work for slapping the 60-year-old schizophrenic resident on the back.

She was sentenced yesterday after being convicted earlier in June after she denied the offence.

Mike Garvey, for Day (45), said: "My client is an intelligent woman who has built a career as a carer. She intends to appeal to clear her name."

He said if the conviction stood there was little chance of her getting another job in the sector.

He said she had been suspended since the incident and expected now to lose her position.

The court heard Day had been found guilty of slapping the 60-year-old schizophrenic after he had hit her.

Prosecutor Julie Facer said the assault occurred as Day was finishing her shift at the Willowbanks Nursing Home, in Bitteswell, near Lutterworth.

The home caters for people suffering from dementia and mental illness.

She said the victim of Day's attack often intimidated staff and residents and had been in a volatile mood on the day in question.

She said he hit her in the back and she retaliated by slapping him hard in the back with the palm of her hand.

The court was told Day then tried to shadow box with the resident and he began laughing, but he then picked an argument with another resident and was asked to leave the lounge.

Two other care assistants in the lounge were shocked and reported the incident to the home's assistant manager.

Day, of Station Road, Dunton Bassett, near Lutterworth, who had worked at the home for three years, denied slapping the resident. She said she knew the patient well and they often danced and play fought.

Day was also ordered to pay £250 costs.