DOWLING: NURSE COULD BE STRUCK OFF OVER TRAIN STATION SEX ACT
A nurse caught carrying out a sex act in a train station toilet could faces being struck off today (thurs).
Laurance Dowling, 40, was seen pleasuring himself with the cubicle door wide open by a station staff member in Richmond-upon-Thames, Surey, in September 2006.
A few months later, on February 28, 2007, he was found slumped against a door and too drunk to stand in a residential street.
The nurse was fined £130 for being drunk and disorderly, after householders complained he was trying to get into their homes and causing a disturbance.
Then on August 3, 2009, Dowling threw a plate at his partner’s head during a drunken row and received a 24-month community order including 250 hours of unpaid work.
He had been cautioned three months earlier, on May 5, for spitting in his partner’s face.
Dowling also has convictions for disorderly behaviour and assault causing actual bodily harm dating back to May 2005.
Rachel Ellis, for the NMC, said the nurse had been cautioned for indecency after he was found committing a sex act by a station revenue inspection officer.
He went on to throw a plate at his partner, an unemployed 47-year-old referred to as Mr A, after they spent the day drinking vodka together at home.
She said: ‘They argued all afternoon until Mr A locked himself in the bathroom to escape the situation.
‘He later responded to the fire alarm and went downstairs to the kitchen, where he found the registrant cooking.
‘At that stage the registrant picked up a plate and threw it at Mr A’s head, causing a one-inch cut above his eye.’
Dowling admitted all the offences by letter but claimed his fitness to practise was not impaired.
He said he only accepted the caution for public indecency ‘to deal with the matter immediately, but he did not agree with the witness statement.’
Dowling also claimed the plate-throwing was a ‘non-deliberate act,’ but accepted the caution for spitting.
In a statement read to the panel he said: ‘I would like the panel to be aware of my regret and remorse for the incident, which came at a very difficult time in my previous relationship.
‘I fully accept responsibility for my actions and have taken steps to ensure it never happens again.’
Charges that Dowling had used disorderly behaviour, been drunk and disorderly, assaulted his partner twice, committed an assault causing actual bodily harm and outraged public decency were all found proved by the panel.
They found the spitting did not constitute misconduct.
He could now face being suspended or thrown out of the profession if they decide his fitness to practise is impaired.
The hearing continues.
mfl
ends
