A NURSE has been struck off after being convicted of making indecent images of children.
Mental health nurse Maartijn Stephenson received a community order sentence when he admitted possessing more than 40 images, before Hartlepool Magistrates last year.
He had been suspended from his job and now the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has ruled that is no longer fit to practice, striking him off.
It ruled: "Mr Stephenson, given the nature of his role as a mental health nurse, may in the past have patients at unwarranted risk of harm.
"The panel determined that by accessing indecent photographs of children, Mr Stephenson has brought the nursing profession into disrepute, and has breached the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession by committing a serious criminal offence."
It said no evidence had been presented to the panel to show how Stephenson was "remediating his offending behaviour" and concluded that he presented a risk of harm to patients in future.
The hearing was told Stephenson bought DVDs between 2006 and 2008 – before he became a nurse –with indecent images of children.
He was placed on the sex offenders register for five years after his conviction last year.
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