32-year-old admitted being addicted to pornography A doctor who paid a prostitute for sex while on duty in a maternity hospital has admitted being addicted to pornography.
Rupert Pemsel, a father of two young children whose wife is a GP, told a tribunal he wanted to take his sexual obsession to the next level.
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‘I started to view – in increasing amounts – internet pornography,’admitted the 32-year-old trainee anesthetist.
‘It’s not something I’m proud of but I did it nonetheless. ‘It got to a stage where I was watching more than I should have done. It was impacting on me doing house duties and washing and things like that.’ Pemsel, who could be struck off, apologized to his Nigerian-born wife Sheyi, 40, for the huge impact of his actions on her, his family and his colleagues.
He told the hearing why he had hired a prostitute between helping with emergency caesareans. ‘I did it because it seemed it was the natural progression from pornography to real life,’ he said. ‘It was something that I didn’t commit a lot of thought to. It was something that just happened. ‘I woke up that evening to go to night shift and while looking at pornography I decided to do it then and it was in no way planned.
The fact it was at the hospital did not at the time come in to it.
It was merely that I was there and it was a place to meet. There is nothing more to it than that.’ The incident happened over Christmas 2013 when Pemsel, who qualified in 2010, was working at the Princess Anne Hospital in Southampton. He said he had arranged to smuggle the prostitute into the hospital by text message. Among his messages, he told her: ‘This is naughty on my part so discretion would really be appreciated.’ But his escapade backfired when associates of the prostitute sought to blackmail him for £10,000. While trying to help officers set up a sting to catch the blackmailers, who were suspected to have criminal links, he inadvertently landed himself in even more hot water by revealing he kept a photo of a patient’s intimate X-ray on his mobile phone. Pemsel, who was reported to the General Medical Council, is appearing before the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester. He said he was wrong to take a picture of the patient:
‘Now I am totally and utterly undeniably aware it is inappropriate to take images like that without somebody’s consent.’ Leanne Kennedy, 29, also known as Leanne Davies, and a younger man were arrested and pleaded guilty to blackmail in July 2014. Kennedy avoided jail after receiving a two-year suspended sentence but the man, who cannot be named, was jailed for 42 months. Pemsel was suspended during an investigation into his conduct by University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. He later resigned. He has since been working as a locum at a number of different hospitals, most recently at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, where he hopes to return. Pemsel said before the incident he had been under financial strain and stressed from heartbreaking medical work with sick children in Uganda.
He added: ‘I would like to apologise one last time to everybody involved. I am extremely regretful about the impact this has had on the profession.’ Pemsel, who admits misconduct charges, could be struck off if the MPTS panel decides his fitness to practise has been impaired. The hearing continues