A son is looking for answers as police investigate how his bedridden mum ended up with a broken leg at a care home.

Maureen Snelling is 89 and has dementia. She is unable to tell her son Peter how her leg ended up black and blue.

Mr Snelling said staff at Grace Manor Care Home in Gillingham, where Maureen has been living for four years, have been unable to explain to him what happened.

Police are now leading a safeguarding investigation, which the care home is fully co-operating with.

Mr Snelling first noticed a deterioration in his mother's condition on Boxing Day. At the beginning of January he discovered she was being given antibiotics and was told they were for an infection in her leg.

He arranged for a doctor to see Maureen over video call. He was with her for the consultation on January 8 and this was when he found out her right leg, which is paralysed, was badly bruised.

He said: "It was black and blue.The colour of it made me feel sick.

"The doctor took one look at it and said to call 999.

"The paramedics who came asked for an explanation and the staff were unable to tell them."

In hospital, an x-ray revealed Maureen had a broken right tibula, just below the knee.

The grandmother is paralysed down her right side after having a stroke five years ago and staff at the home in Grange Road move her from her bed to a chair using specialist equipment.

Mr Snelling: "Her bed is low to the ground and is in the corner, so she has a crash mat on one side and it is padded on the other side.

"When she is in the chair she is strapped in and she cannot undo the straps herself as you need to use both hands.

"I just don't know how this could have happened. Mum has no recollection of the incident."

Mr Snelling says that Maureen's dementia can cause her to lash out, adding: "She's not a saint but she doesn't deserve a broken leg.

"It could have happened while she was being moved or being restrained. But why wasn't I told? And then, why was I told something else?"

He added: "There was a change in her behaviour after Boxing Day. She wasn't eating and she was more tired. Before that, on a good day, you could talk to her and she would still have her sense of humour.

"Now I think it must have been because of her leg. It makes sense if it was because she was in pain.

"She can be in pain and unable to verbalise it."

Before her stroke, Maureen lived on her own in Sittingbourne and was able to go on holidays to America and Madeira.

Three weeks after being admitted, Maureen remains at Medway Maritime Hospital while her son struggles to find her a place at another care home.

He said: "She has been very frightened and confused. I now go in twice a day to feed her and help out at the hospital as she is a bit bewildered being in a strange place and cannot see faces due to mask wearing."

A spokesman for Grace Manor said: "As is standard procedure in cases where the origin of an injury is unknown, a safeguarding referral to local authority and police and a notification to CQC were put in place.

"The police are leading the ongoing safeguarding investigation, and we are, of course, co-operating fully with the investigating officers.

"We are continuing to liaise with the family to keep them updated, and send all our best wishes for a speedy recovery.

"It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."