A CITY nurse has been sacked from the profession after being caught with indecent images of children and animals.

Rusty Jay Tayhopon can no longer work as a nurse after the Nursing and Midwifery Council decided to strike off the nurse during a hearing last month.

The ex-nurse was jailed for 14 months on July 7, 2023, for making indecent photographs/pseudo-photographs of children, processing them and having an indecent image(s) of sexual acts being carried out on an animal.

Tayhopon was employed by the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust in March 2020 and, at the time, was under investigation for possession and distribution of indecent images. 

He had then later admitted possessing unlawful images after an interview under caution with West Mercia Police.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council Fitness to Practise Committee found that even though the images were not in relation to his career as a nurse, they did pose a risk to patients and the wider public.

A spokesperson for the panel said: "Tayhopon’s actions were an appalling departure from the standards expected of a registered nurse and are fundamentally incompatible with his remaining on the register.

"The panel was of the view that the findings in this particular case demonstrate that Tayhopon’s actions were so serious that to allow him to continue practising, or to suspend him temporarily from the register, would seriously damage public confidence in the profession.

"It determined that the appropriate and proportionate sanction is that of a striking-off order.

"Having regard to the effect of Tayhopon’s actions in bringing the profession into disrepute by adversely affecting the public’s view of how a registered nurse should conduct himself, the panel has concluded that nothing short of this would be sufficient in this case."

The location in the report was given as Worcester.

Tayhopon has also been made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and ordered to sign on the Sex Offender Register for ten years.

Stephen Collman, Managing Director at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We carried out a full investigation as soon as we were informed of the allegations and took the appropriate safeguarding and disciplinary action.”