THE ‘JUICY JUGS’ CHEMIST

A smutty chemist who joked about colleagues’ ‘juicy jugs’ can return to work – as long as he completes an ‘equality and diversity course’.

Andrew Lumby groped staff members’ bottoms, complimented them on their ‘wangers’ and offered to ‘ravish’ a female assistant.

He became ‘obsessed with sexual remarks’ while in charge of the Co-op Pharmacy in Caerleon, near Newport, south Wales.

Lumby, who is originally from the West Midlands, also gave staff graphic descriptions of his manhood and made derogatory remarks about customers’ intimate personal hygiene.

A string of charges against him were found proved at a General Pharmaceutical Council hearing in central London.

But the panel ruled he was fit to return to work with only a formal warning once he completes an equality and diversity course.

Panel chair Christopher Gibson QC said a ‘lack of training and support’ had been partially responsible for Lumby’s behaviour.

‘On one level there is a school of thought that almost everything that we do is sexually motivated,’ he said.

But he added: ‘Mr Lumby was responsible for going further than was acceptable, and consistently doing so over a substantial period to the extend that, although his colleagues did not feel under any direct threat from him, his comments amounted to sexual harassment.’

Mark Millin, for the GPC, told the two-day hearing: ‘Mr Lumby derived some sexual gratification in the badinage in which he conducted the day-to-day business of the pharmacy.

‘Otherwise, why not have badinage of a non-sexual nature?

‘The point that’s made is these were not one-off incidents. They happened with alarming frequency during a prolonged period.’

As part of his campaign, Lumby told staff there were ‘some minging fannies around today’ as he dispensed thrush cream and joked that he could hang a shower gel bottle on his member.

He also told one female staff member a delivery driver wanted to ‘give her one’ and said another ‘knows how to handle a hose’ while she was vacuuming.

Pharmacy technician Tracy Campbell said Lumby’s behaviour began as soon as he started at the pharmacy in mid-June 2009 and continued until he resigned in October last year.

‘During the course of one morning he touched my bottom twice with the whole of his hand,’ she told the panel.

‘He was day in, day out, making comments. He became obsessed with sexual remarks.’

Some staff had been left in tears by his constant jibes, while others were looking for another job, she added.

Fellow technician David Reardon said Lumby had behaved like a teenager during his time in charge.

‘If I came in after the weekend he would regularly ask me If I got my leg over,’ he said.

‘If I went to my mum’s house for Sunday lunch he asked if I had a good stuffing.

‘It was like having teenagers around who have just learned new words.’

Trainee Sian Williams told the panel she had been on the receiving end of many of Lumby’s sexual remarks.

‘He used to ask me what sort of knickers I had on,’ she said. ‘Did I have a thong on.

‘Once he walked past me and smacked my bottom and another time he said to me: “Alright, firm bottom”.

‘Once I was hoovering and he said, “You can see Sian knows how to hold a hose”.

‘One day I was so upset I went home crying.’

Lumby claimed the bulk of the allegations against him have been fabricated by disaffected staff members unhappy with his management style and told the panel that any groping must have happened by accident.

He said he had been ‘shocked’ by the distress he had caused to his victims and would write letters of apology to them.

Announcing the panel’s decision, Mr Gibson said: ‘It appears that Mr Lumby is an excellent pharmacist, and the matters that we are dealing with never had any effect on the work that he was doing as a pharmacist.

‘Patients were not involved, and it appears that there is no evidence that customers were ever aware of anything untoward happening in this pharmacy.

‘It is clear that he does not indulge in this sort of conduct any more. We believe that there was lack of training and support in management skills for Mr Lumby at the pharmacy where all of this happened.’

Lumby admitted a charge alleging he had ‘made comments about the breast sizes of female members of staff and referred to their breasts as “wangers” and “juicy jugs”‘.

He also admitted telling one member of staff a delivery driver would like to ‘give her one’.

But he denied asking Mr Reardon if he had enjoyed ‘a good stuffing’ and making a remark about his eye infection, saying Mrs Williams knew ‘how to hold a hose’ and offering to ravish Mrs Campbell.

He also denied a charge stating he ‘commented on the state of his genitalia depending on the prevailing weather conditions’, touching three staff members’ bottoms and snapping Mrs Williams’ bra strap.

Lumby further denied his behaviour was sexually motivated.