A paedophile nurse who downloaded baby rape images was struck off and described as 'unsafe' to work with patients.
Married dad-of-four Christopher Ewan, 45, used to work at the A&E department at Aintree hospital in Fazakerley. But during lockdown he downloaded more than 100 child rape files, plus extreme porn images showing bestiality.
After his sick crimes came to light, his family's home in Netherton was targeted by vigilantes, forcing his innocent wife and children to flee. Ewan was handed a suspended prison sentence at Liverpool Crown Court in September, having admitted three counts of downloading and one count of possessing indecent images of children, plus possessing a prohibited image of a child and extreme porn.
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Ewan's wife has since left him and he has "lost" his children, the court heard. In what was essentially a foregone conclusion, he has also now been officially prohibited from practising nursing in the UK.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), which regulates the register of nurses able to practise in the UK, published a judgment from a disciplinary hearing which concluded Ewan would remain a potential risk to patients if he was not struck off.
An independent panel concluded: "Although the conviction in question was not related to Mr Ewan’s clinical practice and occurred in a domestic setting, the nature of the criminal conduct is such that it potentially impacts on the safety of patients, in particular, the safety of children.
"Children suffer harm as a result of indecent images being made, possessed and distributed. Offences involving indecent images of children exploit children and amount to an abuse of children.
"It is therefore not guaranteed that a member of the public in Mr Ewan’s care would be safe, or indeed, feel safe, in his care. The panel therefore determined that Mr Ewan is liable to place patients at a risk of harm in the future, that his conviction, for such serious and morally culpable offences, has brought the nursing profession into disrepute and breached fundamental tenets of the profession."
The panel heard that Ewan, who had worked at Aintree since 2013, was referred to the NMC by both Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Merseyside Police.
Back in September, the court heard Merseyside Police officers knocked on the door of Ewan's home on June 22, 2020, after receiving a tip-off about "suspicious activity" relating to a Sky broadband account and messaging app Kik Messenger. Officers seized various devices, which were later found to contain 137 Category A images, including 10 videos.
Category A images are classed as depicting the most extreme forms of abuse under sentencing law and involve children being raped. The police also found 219 Category B images, including two videos, 130 Category C images, one pseudo (cartoon) image of abuse and 21 extreme pornographic images.
Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting in court, said during the sentencing hearing that one Category A image showed a female baby aged six to 12 months and one Category A video, around 24 minutes long, featured children aged eight, seven and four.
Mr Hopkins said: "So of their type, they are particularly serious images in the Crown's submission." Despite the damning evidence and his guilty pleas, a pre-sentence report noted Ewan initially claimed he did not intentionally download the images or do it for sexual gratification.
However the court heard he later admitted that was not true. Desmond Lennon, defending, said: "He unreservedly accepts deliberately downloading this material. He also accepts at the time there was a sexual interest in children and the notes indicate, being pressed, accepts it remains."
Mr Lennon said Ewan was married for 19 years with four children, but developed an interest in adult porn, which the dad described as "thrill seeking". He said at the time of the offending his client had been off work due to "stress" and his interest in adult porn progressed to viewing child sex abuse images.
Mr Lennon said if Ewan was spared jail, he could receive "the assistance he perhaps now belatedly recognises that he needs". The lawyer said: "He understands how it's not only affected him, but people who are very important to him, his wife and children. His wife has left him, the marriage is over and his four children have been taken away from him."
Mr Lennon said when Ewan's crimes first became public knowledge, it had a "catastrophic effect" on the family, who then lived in Netherton. He said: "The home was vandalised, bricks were thrown through the window, paint was thrown at the front door and people congregated outside, behaving in an intimidating way. The effect on his children in particular has been devastating."
Judge Anil Murray told Ewan: "You were of previous good character. More than that, more than just having no previous convictions, you were of positive good character and worked as a professional person. By this offending you have thrown all that away."
Judge Murray said by law he had to consider guidelines on whether this sentence should be served immediately, and because Ewan had no history of poor compliance with court orders, was thought to have a realistic prospect of rehabilitation, and jailing him would have "some significant impact" on his family, he was "able, but only just, to suspend the sentence in this case".
He handed Ewan 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, with a 40-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement. Ewan was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register and comply with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.
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