A newly-qualified mental health nurse who downloaded child and extreme adult pornography out of “morbid curiosity” has been struck off.
Andrew Mackay was caught with hundreds of sickening images on his computers after police raided his home – just six months after he qualified.
The father-of-two admitted two charges of possessing pornographic images and videos involving children, adults and animals when his case called at Inverness Sheriff Court last year.
The 35-year-old, of Birchview, Newmore, Invergordon, avoided jail, and was handed a three-year supervision order and told to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work. He was also put on the sex offenders register for three years.
And yesterday, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) decided to strike him off, arguing his crimes are “fundamentally incompatible” with him remaining in the profession.
It comes after the panel considered the facts of the case – and noted nearly 400 indecent images of children and a number of extreme pornographic images – which included adult women performing sex acts with animals – were discovered after police seized computer equipment from his home in April 2014.
All of the images had been downloaded between August 2012 and April 2014.
He had also made internet searches for the terms “bestiality” and “incest”.
When arrested, Mackay told officers he had looked at the images and said they made him “physically sick”.
Announcing the panel’s decision, following a hearing in London, the NMC said: “The panel had regard to the fact that Mr Mackay had qualified as a nurse less than six months prior to having been found accessing indecent images.
“It found Mr Mackay’s behaviour to be directly relevant to his role as a registered nurse, and extremely concerning, given that he would have been in a position of power over vulnerable patients.
“Mr Mackay’s actions were very serious and significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse, and are fundamentally incompatible with his remaining on the register”.