Nurse struck off for secretly filming woman on toilet in Northampton for sexual gratification

A nurse has been struck off after secretly filming a woman on the toilet at a venue in Northampton for sexual gratification while there to administer flu jabs.

Daryl Crofts, aged 49, was caught recording the victim in a toilet cubicle in 2019 and pleaded guilty at Northampton Magistrates' Court in June last year.

Crofts, of Overn Crescent, Buckingham, was taken off the Nurse and Midwifery Council's (NMC) register following a fitness to practise committee meeting on June 3.

The striking-off order cannot take effect until after a 28-day appeal period but the panel took the decision to implement an immediate suspension to "protect the public"

The report from the meeting reads: "Mr Crofts’ actions were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse, and are fundamentally incompatible with him remaining on the register.

"The panel was of the view that the findings in this particular case demonstrate that Mr Crofts’ actions were serious and to allow him to continue practising would undermine public confidence in the profession and in the NMC as a regulatory body."

Northamptonshire Police told the NMC that Crofts had been arrested after being accused of voyeurism.

The victim told police she noticed a mobile phone with the camera lens facing up from the next cubicle as she pulling her underwear and trousers back up at around 1.15pm.

She 'verbally demonstrated surprise', left the toilet to wash her hands and saw the phone disappear, her statement read.

The woman waited to challenge whoever was in the cubicle when a man came out and left the bathroom quickly, stating he had dropped his phone and did not realise he was in the ladies room.

Subsequently, police were called and the victim confirmed the identity of the man as Crofts, the external occupational health nurse administering flu jabs.

The Medigold Health worker denied any wrongdoing to police, who found footage from the toilets on his phone of the victim on the toilet.

Officers also found several internet searches relating to pornographic material, including voyeurism, fetish pornography, images of sexual acts in bathrooms and live sex and webcam pornographic websites and an app used to remotely monitor spy cameras over the internet.

After admitting the charge at court on June 29, 2020, Crofts as given an 18-month community order with an unpaid work requirement for 150 hours and a five-year sexual harm prevention order and told to pay £475.

The NMC panel decided Crofts' fitness to practise was impaired and a striking-off order was the only possible sanction for the seriousness of his actions.

The initial order is interim for 18 months to allow for the 28-day appeal period, after which it will become permanent if no appeal is made.

"The panel considered that this order was necessary to mark the importance of maintaining public confidence in the profession, and to send to the public and the profession a clear message about the standard of behaviour required of a registered nurse," the report reads.