A NURSE has been struck off for possessing child pornography of the most “serious and degrading” kind.
Christopher Anstey, who worked at Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, admitted having more than 700 pornographic images.
They showed boys aged between four and ten and some of the pictures fell into the most serious category.
Officers arrested Anstey at the hospital in November 2013, and in June 2014 he pled guilty to two child pornography charges.
The court noted that some of the photographs in his possession were “considered to be level 5 on the scale for such images, which is to be regarded as the most serious and degrading.”
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) held a hearing into the case in Edinburgh on Monday.
They found Anstey’s convictions were “so serious as to have gravely undermined the public’s confidence in the standards and behaviour expected of a registered nurse”.
A panel said that a striking-off order was “the only appropriate and proportionate sanction” given the nature of his “serious offences.”
The NMC condemned Anstey for his “serious criminal behaviour”, saying that he had shown “no expression of insight, remorse or regret” and adding that there was “a high risk of repetition of his criminal behaviour”.
The NMC imposed a striking-off order on Anstey, removing him from the nursing register and banning him from practicing for five years.
He will be allowed to apply for restoration to the register after five years have passed.
Anstey did not attend the hearing and was not represented.
He earlier told the NMC he would not be attending as “he did not feel that his attendance would make a difference to the outcome”.
When he appeared before Glasgow Sheriff Court, on 18 June 2014, the nurse admitted a charge of Taking/permit to be taken/Make indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children, and possession of indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children.
He was sentenced to a community payback order, including a supervision period of three years, and was ordered to undertake 300 hours of unpaid work or activities.
He was also placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for a period of three years.
