A Scottish social services worker has been banned from working in the profession after having a sexual relationship with a vulnerable addict while she was in the care of his employer. David Phillips began the relationship with the woman in Glasgow, while she was a resident at his work, ultimately causing her to become pregnant and have to undergo an abortion.
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) found Phillps had used controlling behaviour to hide the relationship, which included threatening that she would lose her place at the care service if she was to tell anyone and telling her that the pregnancy was "her fault", reports Glasgow Live.
The behaviour was reported to the Scottish Services Council, who found that he had caused "emotional and physical harm and amounted to a significant abuse of a position of trust."
The report details that while in employment between April and October 2020, he exchanged phone numbers with the woman and made personal calls and sent messages to her. He also kissed and touched her on numerous occasions.
Between May 2020 and October 2020, he made personal visits to her home, had sex with her at her home, met up with her outside of her home and caused her to become pregnant. The woman underwent the termination which was found to have caused her "physical harm".
He told her that he would lose his job if she told anyone and threatened to expose emails sent from her if she showed anyone the messages he had sent. When she told Phillips she was pregnant, he stated: "it's all your fault," before putting money into her bank account to pay for taxis to the termination.
After the woman underwent the procedure, Phillips forced her to take another pregnancy test to confirm the negative result. He was found to have acted with the intention of preventing anyone from finding out about the secret sexual relationship.
The SSSC report outlines: "You sent numerous messages to a service user with the intention of forming a sexual relationship with them. You met service user AA while she was using the services of your employer, therefore you would be well aware of her vulnerabilities through your role. You then formed a sexual relationship with AA, which resulted in a pregnancy which was terminated.
"Your actions caused AA emotional and physical harm and amounted to a significant abuse of a position of trust. You used controlling behaviour towards her in order to conceal this relationship from others.
"You took advantage of your position to make contact with her when she was a vulnerable service user, demonstrating a clear breach of professional boundaries."
They found that Phillips showed 'insufficient insight and no real remorse' for his actions and blamed a 'lack of training' from his employer as a reason for his behaviour. It was determined that there would be a risk of repetition.
Phillips was removed from the SSSC register indefinitely and will therefore no longer be able to work in the care industry as a result.
His conduct was derided by the public after the behaviour came to light.
One woman said: "So sad for the woman, another professional worker abusing their trust, absolutely disgraceful." Another added: "Poor woman, again another so-called professional abusing his position of trust. People like him give the good workers a bad name."
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