Male nurse faces long jail term for sexually assaulting female patients under anaesthetic
10 May 2022, 09:06 | Updated: 10 May 2022, 09:12
A male nurse faces a long jail term for sexually assaulting female patients and making indecent videos of them while they were under general anaesthetic.
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Paul Grayson, 51, of Nether Edge, Sheffield, filmed four women beneath their underwear and sexually assaulted two while they were unconscious and in his care at Royal Hallamshire Hospital.
The senior nurse also filmed five female colleagues in hospital toilets and both took and possessed indecent images of children, Sheffield Crown Court heard yesterday.
Grayson, who was in tears for most of the hearing, pleaded guilty to 23 counts including voyeurism, sexual assault, taking indecent images of a child and possessing indecent images of children.
He is set to be sentenced today.
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Prosecutor Michael Smith told the court yesterday that Grayson's crimes came to light when one of his victims discovered a cache of images of herself on hard drives and memory sticks he had hidden.
Among the videos was naked footage of the woman, who knew Grayson, including clips that were taken when she was a child.
She also uncovered footage of other women, including two videos in which Grayson filmed himself moving their underwear while they were under anaesthetic, and handed the evidence to police who launched an investigation.
One victim said she could not bring herself to go to another hospital for an operation since the discovery of Grayson's crimes "because I will have to be unconscious".
The videos were filmed by Grayson from 2010 until his arrest in December 2020.
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Grayson, Mr Smith said, started working as a nurse in 1994 and rose to the position of charge nurse, working one-on-one with patients awaiting surgery.
He described the videos as the "grossest" abuse of his position of trust.
Grayson's lawyer, Alex Menary, told the court his client was "a broken man" but agreed it was "the grossest abuse of trust".
Judge Jeremy Richardson, QC, said Grayson was in a position of "very considerable responsibility".
