A MAN who groped a nurse as he was receiving treatment for a head injury was told he will be jailed when he is sentenced next month.

The warning was given to Christopher Daniel Cooper as he was remanded in custody, following his ‘guilty’ pleas at Durham Crown Court to two charges of sexual assault.

Both arise from the same incident, involving the same nurse at Durham’s University Hospital of North Durham, on Saturday July 25.

Asked by Judge Christopher Prince about the nature of the offences, prosecuting counsel Ian Mullarkey said: “The complainant was performing a public duty.

“It is two offences of sexual assault on a nurse, who it might be said was particularly vulnerable, as she was treating a patient.”

Mr Mullarkey read extracts from her victim impact statement in which the nurse said she used to “love her job”, but is now “on edge” in certain situations at work, particularly when dealing with drunken male patients.

The statement said: “I was trying to bring help for this man.

“I was concerned for him because he had a head injury.”

But she said she felt “violated and disgusted” at what he did.

“He had a smirk on his face.

“If this is the way he behaves when he is drunk, he shouldn’t drink again.”

Julian White, for 34-year-old Cooper, said the defendant has little on his record, other than a common assault in 2013, arising from a domestic-related incident, and a case of criminal damage in his teenage years.

Mr White requested preparation of a background report on Cooper by the Probation Service before he is sentenced.

Agreeing, Judge Christopher Prince said: “It goes without saying that if the courts can’t protect doctors and nurses, then who can be protected?

“A very clear message should go out: ‘You threaten or assault a nurse or a doctor when they are undertaking their work, then you go to prison.’

“In this case it’s not just assault, it’s sexual assault.”

Cooper was on bail prior to the hearing, but Judge Prince said, given his admissions, he should now be remanded in custody prior to sentence.

“It’s very simple. If you assault a doctor or nurse, you will go to prison.

“And, you will go to prison today, as you will receive a custodial sentence in due course.

“The very clear message must go out to people seeking treatment, this is what will happen if they lay a finger on doctors or nurses.”

Cooper, of Bracken Court, Ushaw Moor, near Durham, will be sentenced on Tuesday December 1.