NHS worker assaulted women for sexual gratification in fake examinations

A healthcare support worker has been jailed for nine years for sex assaults on two hospital patients.

Ieuan Crump, 27, carried out fake and "entirely unnecessary" examinations on the women at the Grange Hospital in Cwmbran for his own sexual gratification, Merthyr Crown Court heard.

He was found guilty last month of six charges of sexual assault and three of assault by penetration.

Sentencing him, Judge Vanessa Francis told Crump his offending was "breathtakingly harmful" and the trust placed in him meant he thought he "could get away with it".

Gwent Police said it had "total admiration and praise" for his victims who "bravely came forward to report this predatory individual".

The offences happened while Crump, from Gilfach in Caerphilly county, was conducting scans and examinations on 10 and 13 August 2021.

The court heard both patients had attended the hospital in pain and Crump had intimately examined one of them unnecessarily and assaulted both of them.

One victim revealed she had tried to take her life three times and described how her life had felt like a "nightmare" ever since.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, she said: "I just wanted my life to be over, so I didn't have to relive what was in my head, of what Ieuan did to me.

"I feel very uncomfortable when I am treated by anyone in the medical profession, as I now trust no-one, least of all medics.

"I have been living in a nightmare... I feel like I'm a shell of the person that I used to be."

The court heard the woman had only managed to leave the house three times since the assaults and could no longer work in her previous profession.

The other victim said she had been diagnosed with PTSD and Crump's actions had made her "untrusting" of men.

"It has made me think that, if a healthcare worker can commit such an act, then any man is a threat," she said in her victim impact statement.

"I do not want to be treated by the NHS or go back to the Grange."

Judge Francis said Crump appeared to have been someone who was "socially isolated" and "perhaps a little socially awkward", but also came across as "extremely confident and arrogant."

In addition to the prison sentence, she said he would be put on the sex offenders register for life, imposed restraining orders on him for both women and barred him from working with children and vulnerable people in the future.

She told him: "You examined parts of both young women's bodies which were not required, you did not wear gloves because you wanted skin-to-skin contact with each of them.

"There is a breach of trust in this case which is of the most extreme kind, you manipulated extremely vulnerable women, in significant amounts of pain."

Michael Jenkin, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Ieuan Crump exploited his position of power over two women when they were at their most vulnerable, for his own sexual gratification."

A spokesperson for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board said that prior to Crump's employment, all checks were completed "in line with national NHS Employment Check Standards, with enhanced DBS and the required police checks also completed."

They said there were "no concerns" raised about his conduct during this process.

The health board said it had provided support to the victims as soon as the concerns were raised, and that "further support is there, should they need it, following the court case".

"Our thoughts are with the victims, whose trust was betrayed in our hospital due to the horrifying behaviour of this individual.

"Inappropriate behaviour by our staff or patients will not be tolerated and we will continue to work with our partners at Gwent Police to bring anyone responsible to justice."

Gwent Police's Det Ch Supt Andrew Tuck said Crump "took advantage of his victims, who believed he would help them".

"Instead he committed these horrendous offences against them.

"Thanks to them, this dangerous individual who poses a significant risk to the public will no longer be able to target women and I hope they can continue the process of rebuilding their lives."

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