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Nurse who sexually assaulted unconscious patient is struck off

Paul Grayson, who secretly filmed patients’ genitals and is serving a 16-year prison sentence for sexual offences, is ordered to be removed from NMC register
Paul Grayson

Paul Grayson, who secretly filmed patients’ genitals and is serving a 16-year prison sentence for sexual offences, is ordered to be removed from NMC register

Paul Grayson
Paul Grayson Picture: South Yorkshire Police

A nurse who sexually assaulted an unconscious patient has been struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Paul Grayson, a former theatre nurse at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, was jailed for 16 years in May after he was found to have filmed patients’ genitals – including those of a teenager – while they were unconscious.

It was discovered he had sexually assaulted three of his victims in the post-anaesthetic recovery unit at Sheffield’s Royal Hallamshire Hospital in order to get the images. He was arrested in December 2020.

Searches of Mr Grayson’s electronic devices also revealed indecent images of children and showed he had installed recording equipment in the women’s staff toilets at the hospital to secretly film female colleagues.

On 30 November an NMC fitness to practice hearing found that patients, family members and members of the public were caused ‘physical and emotional harm’ because of Mr Grayson’s conduct. The panel also said those affected had ‘suffered extensively’.

One abused patient became reluctant to seek medical treatment

In one case, a patient abused by Mr Grayson was found to have become reluctant to seek medical treatment after the incident, and had delayed doing so because of what they had gone through, the NMC case report stated. ‘Mr Grayson’s conduct and conviction has breached the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession,’ it said.

In February he pleaded guilty to 14 counts of voyeurism, three of sexual assault, one count of up-skirting, three counts of possession of indecent images and videos of children, and one of installing recording equipment for sexual gratification.

Passing sentence, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC said Mr Grayson was a danger to the public and labelled his crimes as sinister, deplorable and ‘a grotesque breach of trust’.

Alongside his prison sentence, Mr Grayson is also subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and is required to register as a sex offender for life.


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