POLICE set up a sting operation after an 84-year-old woman claimed a paramedic had attempted to touch her breasts.

An officer, who had been watching through a keyhole, stepped in after Garry Fordham begin to examine her. The 38-year-old, of Rawcliffe Lane, Clifton, York, was arrested, but not charged with any offence.

However, he was struck off the medical register by the Paramedics Disciplinary Board in London yesterday after being accused of an inappropriate relationship with a patient. He failed to attend the hearing.

Committee chairman Ken Wenman said: "Mr Fordham used his position to gain access to and seek out a relationship with the woman and, as such, it is infamous conduct in a professional respect."

Angus McBride, for the board, called the case an "unusual situation".

Mr Fordham was said to have telephoned the pensioner, on June 9, 2000 claiming to be an ambulance officer who had met her from a previous accident. He asked to call at her home and arrived the same day, performing an examination of her back and hips before attempting to touch her chest, said Mr McBride.

Police were called and while they were at the pensioner's home, the man rang again. With officers monitoring the call, she arranged to meet him again - this time with the police present.

"Later that night the same man attended and said: 'You don't sound well', and moved towards her placing a stethoscope under her blouse on her skin. She stopped him doing it and placed it on her chest outside her clothes," said Mr McBride.

It was then that the police confronted Mr Fordham.