RENDLE: PARAMEDIC GRABBED AND GROPED FEMALE COLLEAGUES IN CAMPAIGN OF HARASSMENT

A married paramedic repeatedly sexually assaulted two colleagues and told them they were ‘tarts, whores and slags’, a hearing was told  today (Weds).

Malcolm Rendle waged a ‘prolonged campaign’ of harassment against the women while working at Thanet ambulance station in Kent, it was said.

He made frequent comments about the size of their breasts and bottoms and would try to kiss and grope them while out on calls, the Health  Professions Council heard.

Rendle had been having a two-year affair with his first victim, an  ambulance technician, and began targeting her when the relationship  broke down in early 1999, it was said.

She began to find pornographic postcards containing his handwriting in her pigeonhole and was often grabbed and groped by him over the next few years, the panel was told.

Although Rendle was never formally disciplined, the woman was not rostered to work with him again after she complained to bosses in  December 2004.

But four years later in December 2008, he is accused of targeting his second victim, who had just started work as a trainee technician.

He told her he would like to ‘get to know her better’ in a text message, then turned on her when she rebuffed his advances, it is alleged.

Julie Norris, for the HPC, ‘The council say the registrant engaged in a prolonged campaign of sexual harassment against both women.

‘It was behaviour that was repeated and was not wanted by them.

‘That behaviour ranged from degrading, sexual comments, inappropriate comments describing the women as tarts, whores and slags, and comments on the sizes of their bottoms and breasts.

‘He went on to sexually assault them, touching them and trying to kiss them without their consent.

‘These were not isolated incidents.’

She said Rendle’s first victim, referred to only as Colleague B, had begun a relationship with him in 1997.

‘That ended in 1999,’ she added, ‘and between then and 2004 Colleague B will say that Rendle subjected her to a steady stream of unprofessional and inappropriate behaviour.

‘Some of that was directed against her competence, but more significantly there was a significant amount of sexual harassment.

‘There were also sexual assaults, such as trying to kiss her and rubbing himself against her in a sexual way.’

Giving evidence to the panel, Colleague B said: ‘After the  relationship ended I started to find upsetting notes in my pigeon hole.

‘They were cut out from newspapers, like the Sunday Sport and Viz.

‘He was basically calling me names and making me out to be easy.

‘There were women having sex and pictures of gentialia and breasts.

‘There was writing on them, saying things like, ‘This is you’.’

She said his behaviour had soon escalated and he had groped and tried to kiss her on several occasions.

‘Once he grabbed me and pulled me between two ambulances,’ she said.

‘He grabbed hold of my breasts and pushed me back, held me up against it and tried to kiss me.

‘I got the impression he thought he had the right to do it.’

Rendle had also called her after their break-up and questioned her  about her sex life, she added.

When she complained to bosses, he claimed she had been spreading  gossip about his ‘lack of ability in the bedroom’, the panel was told.

Colleague A told the panel she had initially found Rendle to be  ‘abrupt and unhelpful’ because he would not help her with their  ambulance’s satnav system or tell her the door codes at local hospitals.

But she said things took a turn for the worse when she rebuffed his  advances while they were on standby together in December 2008.

‘I had read a text message from him,’ she told the panel in evidence.

‘I wasn’t off with him, I just told him I was flattered, but wasn’t interested.

‘He said he was fine, but it was shortly afterwards that things deteriorated.

‘I don’t think he was happy with being turned down.’

She said Rendle then began to touch and grab her on an almost daily basis.

‘Things like that happened all the time,’ she said.

‘We would be driving and he would take the latex gloves we needed and stuff them between my legs or down my blouse.

‘He would always try and laugh it off.’

She complained to managers in July 2009 and disciplinary proceedings were launched, the hearing was told.

But shortly after her complaint, Rendle is alleged to have grabbed  Colleague A from behind, put his hands on her crotch and told her: ‘If I’m going to be hung for a lamb, it may as well be a sheep.’

Rendle, who is not attending a misconduct hearing, denies all the  charges against him.

The hearing continues.