A newly-wed who says he was treated like a suspect when his partner fell down the stairs is seeking answers after social services admitted investigating.

Nick Burton says he spent three months under the microscope after wife Sue Judd, 62, broke her neck at their home in Frindsbury Road, Strood.

She spent 16 days in a coma and several weeks in a rehabilitation unit after the accident in December 2017.

During that period Mr Burton, 45, says a Medway Council social worker threatened him with legal action if he tried to marry her, blocked him from seeing her and told him police were looking into suspicions he had tried to kill her.

But when Mr Burton went to the council to complain about his treatment they denied any such probe took place.

A year on, and following a formal complaint, the authority has admitted it did investigate but said its staff acted properly.

It says it initially denied involvement as it was only asked about domestic violence concerns and not more widely about safeguarding worries.

However, it was unable to comment on Mr Burton’s claims about the social worker’s behaviour as they no longer work for the authority.

Mr Burton is not satisfied with the response and says he is worried the same situation could happen to other families.

He said: “The way I was spoken to during that time was completely out of order.

“To tell me I can’t marry my partner is not allowed, that’s a breach of my human rights.

“I’ll admit I did lose my rag when that was said but I wrote a letter of apology the next day.

“I’m not going to give up on this. I don’t think they should get away with treating people like this and I’m convinced we’re not the only ones.”

A letter sent to Mr Burton in response to his complaint outlines the timeline of events from when fears were initially raised about Mrs Judd’s mental capacity.

Further concerns were raised when a webcam - which Mr Burton says he had bought for his mother and left on charge in Mrs Judd’s hospital room - was found by staff.

Police were informed about the case at the beginning of March but on April 5 decided not to take matters further as Mrs Judd was unable to take part in the investigation. At that point the entire probe was closed.

Assistant director of adult social care at Medway Council, Chris McKenzie, said: “We cannot comment on individual cases, however, we take safeguarding extremely seriously and our priority is to protect alleged victims. All safeguarding concerns are thoroughly investigated and we regularly update those involved, as well as their advocates, about safeguarding investigations.”

Mr Burton says he now plans to appeal the result of his original complaint.