Frail elderly people are at the mercy of a landlord based nearly 5,000 miles away, it has been claimed Larchwood, a Southern Cross care home in Braintree, has been handed back to the building’s owner - based in tax haven the Cayman Islands - after the cash-strapped company folded.

But staff, union representatives and an Essex Euro MP are worried about landlord Libra Careco Offshore’s future plans, which are not known.