A nurse has been struck off the register after a hearing found he had sexually harassed a colleague.

Alexander Osuchukwu was found by a tribunal to have touched a colleague without her consent for his “sexual gratification”.

Mr Osuchukwu, who received a criminal conviction for sexual assault following one incident, denied the allegations.

He had been working as a care agency nurse at a client’s house when he ‘hugged’ a colleague, known as Colleague A.

The tribunal watched CCTV footage that showed Mr Osuchukwu “overtly rubbing his body from side to side against Colleague A with Colleague A trying to push him away”.

Colleague A said she was “in pain” after Mr Osuchukwu “didn’t let go”, and was in “disbelief” the incident had happened.

Mr Osuchukwu had said he “didn’t see it as anything other than colleagues at work”.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council panel found, on the balance of probabilities, that Mr Osuchukwu had, during the same visit touched Colleague A’s breast and bottom. They found “there was a repeated pattern of sexual touching, all of which was deliberate”.

The colleague said she believed it was “intentional” and had made her feel “extremely uncomfortable”. She added that she “had told him … never to touch me”.

The panel found that Mr Osuchukwu was no longer fit to practise due to his misconduct, and he has been removed from the nurse’s register.

The panel’s report said Mr Osuchukwu had behaved in an “exploitative” and “predatory” manner, and had “abused his position of power as a nurse”.

They found “patients were put at risk of harm” by Mr Osuchukwu’s actions, which “had the potential of distracting” colleagues and “indicated a pattern of sexually motivated and harassing behaviour”.

“His conduct created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and offensive working environment.”

Mr Osuchukwu was also found to have stared at Colleague A’s bottom. Colleague A told the panel: “No matter what I was doing, I was aware of him staring at me. When I was bathing [the Client], Alex would stand at the door staring at me.

“When I turned around, Alex wouldn’t hide the fact he was staring at my bum and looking me up and down.”

Mr Osuchukwu had made comments to Colleague A such as “you are a beautiful and/or attractive woman”. She believed his comments were “insinuating it was my fault for him touching me”.

“When he made a mistake hoisting [the Client], he blamed it on me, saying words to the effect of ‘see what you made me do, you are very distracting’.”

Mr Osuchukwu had also, on one occasion, said words to Colleague A to the effect of “I will hit you”, the tribunal found. CCTV footage showed him shaking his fist at her.

Another nurse, known as Colleague B, also raised concerns about Mr Osuchukwu’s behaviour. 

The tribunal found Mr Osuchukwu had “pressed his body” close to Colleague B’s body.

Colleague B told the tribunal she had been retrieving a ventilator machine from a high shelf when Mr Osuchukwu “cornered me and came up behind me when I was taking it down”.

“He was so close he made me jump.”

Colleague B said Mr Osuchukwu had tried to hug her “many times”, but she had managed “to push him away”.

Isabella Kirwan, representing the Nursing and Midwifery Council, said Mr Osuchukwu’s conduct was “insidious and subtle”. 

He had “abused his position as a registered nurse and his position of power in a senior role, to exploit those in less senior positions for his own sexual benefit,” she said.

The panel found Mr Osuchukwu’s actions “fell seriously short of the conduct and standards expected of a nurse” and had brought the reputation of the nursing profession “into disrepute”.

They said he had not “demonstrated an understanding of why what he did was wrong” and that he was “highly likely to repeat his misconduct”.

Mr Osuchukwu did not attend the hearing, which ran from August 12 to August 22.

He can appeal his removal from the register, but an interim striking-off order has been made so he cannot practise in the meantime.