Doctors called in police after a 96-year-old great-grandmother was admitted to hospital with a broken thigh bone.

Fearing her injuries were not accidental, a consultant alerted officials to the condition of Elsie Godbold, who had fractured her left femur at the Haydon-Mayer care home in Albany Drive, Herne Bay.

It would later emerge that a care worker looking after the frail pensioner had a previous conviction for assaulting a client.

Details of the injuries were revealed at an inquest into the death of Mrs Godbold, who died of pneumonia three weeks after breaking her leg.

The hearing was told she may have been in excruciating pain for hours because staff at the care home did not carry out round-the-clock checks as required.

Her injuries were discovered on April 6, 2015, but, instead of calling an ambulance, there was an hour-and-a-half delay before a locum doctor was sent for.

Healthcare assistants Saimon Paul and Matthew Stephen were on the night shift when the dementia sufferer was injured.

Mr Paul said he had looked into Mrs Godbold’s room 11 or 12 times, but did not realise she had been injured until he went to dress her at 6.30am.

He said: “I noticed her left leg was swollen. It was bulging.”

Mr Paul said Mrs Godbold did not like being touched and needed a hoist to get her in and out of bed.

He said she would shout and scream when staff went near her, so they would leave her alone. The assistant said Mrs Godbold was not complaining about her injury.

Paul Tapsell, for Mrs Godbold’s family, questioned Mr Paul at the inquest in Sandwich.

“How you are able to remember times and dates so accurately is beyond me,” he said.

“I can’t remember what I did yesterday. You didn’t go into Elsie’s room at all did you?”

Nurse Pam Chandler, who oversaw care on the night, did not give evidence as she could not be traced.

Nurse Julie Joseph, who took over the following morning, was told Mrs Godbold had a swelling on her thigh and she decided to call in a doctor.

She said: "I examined Elsie, although she wouldn't let me touch her. She was restless and having some pain."

When the out-of-hours doctor arrived she told staff to get an ambulance straight away.

Doctors were so concerned about bruising to her body and her leg injuries they called in police.

Consultant orthopaedic surgeon Andrew Smith said her bones were more susceptible to break because she suffered from osteoporosis, a common condition in elderly women.

He said her bones had to be realigned after the fracture and she would have been in a lot of pain.

Accident and emergency consultant Wayne Kissoon called in the police because he believed her injuries were not accidental.

He said the home staff should have noticed Mrs Godbold’s injuries earlier, adding that she was at a high risk of fracture.

Police and a Kent social services safeguarding team were called in, but vital documents from the QEQM were missing.

Senior social worker Tracy Hughes said one of the surgeons at QEQM thought the injury may have been up to two weeks old.

She added records provided to her team were incomplete.

Mrs Godbold recovered from her operation and was moved to another home, where she developed a chest infection which turned into the pneumonia that killed her.

Earlier, her daughter Jane Brown said her mother became less mobile and had to be moved using a hoist and a wheelchair.

She would sit in a chair in the lounge talking to her long-dead mother.

Mrs Brown said: “She was generally amiable but after a while didn’t know who we were when we visited.”

When she was moved to the other care home, Mrs Godbold was treated with antibiotics, which did not work.

She was sent back to hospital, where she died.

There was a thorough investigation into how she received her injuries and Mr Paul was arrested, but released without charge due to a lack of evidence.

DC Leanne Lawrence said checks revealed he had a previous conviction for assaulting a client, for which he received 80 hours community service.

He has since been sacked by the care home.

Assistant East Kent Coroner Christopher Morris said he was satisfied that a chain of events beginning with the fractured femur led to Mrs Godbold's death.

He said on the balance of probabilities the injury occurred between 8pm on April 5 and 8am the following day.

He added it was significant that none of the early paperwork filled in by Mrs Chandler mentioned the injury.

He said: "I accept a twisting on the leg may have caused the injury but we are unable to obtain further evidence as to how this injury was caused."

Surgeons were able to repair the damage and Elsie was transferred to another care home, but pneumonia began to take hold and she was readmitted to hospital where she died.