RAF Benson nurse who had indecent images is struck off

Squadron Leader Kevin Scrafton was convicted in November of making and possessing indecent photographs of children at RAF Benson near Wallingford.

He had also admitted posing as a teenage girl to start sexual conversations with others online.

This week the Nursing and Midwifery Council ruled him unfit to practice and banned him from working as a nurse.

At a hearing on Wednesday, the council heard that The Ministry of Defence first received information in November 2016 that Scrafton had used a computer at RAF Benson to share indecent images and used a file host website known to be used for similar activity.

He was arrested on November 17 that year.

In an interview he confirmed he had 'often' used websites where he would pose as a teenage girl in order to start sexual conversations.

He also revealed that he created several social media accounts under fictional aliases but using images of real girls he had found online.

After a search, more evidence was uncovered including a memory stick containing indecent images.

Scrafton was arrested again on March 1, 2017, for 55 alleged offences of making indecent images and two counts of possessing them.

On November 2 last year at Bulford military court in Salisbury, Scrafton -then 38 - said he could offer no explanation of why he had the images or why he saved them.

He also denied being sexually attracted to the victims and denied having the images for his own gratification.

Despite that, he was convicted of two counts of making indecent photographs and 15 of possession.

He was handed an 18-month jail sentence and made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

He also has to sign the sex offenders' register for 10 years.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council this week said Scrafton had 'put members of public at an unwarranted risk of harm, breached fundamental tenets of the nursing profession and brought the nursing profession into disrepute'.