March 2009 Crewe Sex Offender Struck Off AN experienced male nurse from Crewe has been struck off after being convicted of indecent assault and taking an indecent photograph of a child. David Anthony Moses, aged 58, had been employed at the same Trust since 1971 before he was sentenced at Chester Crown Court in June last year for a total of 23 months’ imprisonment for convictions that included two counts of indecent assault on a female. He was placed on the sex offenders register for ten years, disqualified from working with children for life, and issued a sexual offences prevention order for a period of ten years. Moses was also convicted of 15 counts of taking an indecent photograph of a child and of failing to surrender to custody. The Conduct and Competence Committee panel for the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard evidence this week that Moses was in a position of trust when he committed the indecent assault offences upon a seven-year-old daughter of a neighbour within his own house in 2000. The panel heard that at date of conviction the girl was aged 14 but in the words of the Crown Court judge the incidents were ‘things that had really stuck with her’. The panel also heard that the indecent photographs were rated ‘one to three’ under the Court of Appeal scale of seriousness where one is the lowest and five the most serious. In finding that Moses’ fitness to practise was impaired, the panel considered that although the offences were not directly connected to his professional practise, the charges were of a very serious nature. Commenting on the panel’s decision to issue a striking off order, NMC spokesperson Kristy Hempel, said: “David Moses’ actions were in breach of the fundamental obligations set out in the NMC Code of professional conduct. “This requires that a nurse must act in a way that justifies the trust and confidence the public has in them and must uphold and enhance the reputation of the profession. “A nurse must also adhere to the laws of the country in which they are practising. Moses failed to meet these standards and his behaviour is therefore incompatible with his remaining on the register.” A spokesman for his former employers Nantwich-based Cheshire East Community Health, said that Moses was suspended without pay on April 1 2007.