OO struck off for child porn conviction

While Eric Godfrey was not present for his hearing, the GOC's disciplinary committee was convinced he had received due notice and proceeded with the charge, of being convicted of a criminal offence while practising.
Godfrey, an independent practice owner from Middlesex, wrote to the GOC last year informing it of his conviction in Harrow Crown Court on July 28.
He confessed to eight (sample) counts of making indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children. Of the 534 images found on his home computer, eight involved children aged five to 12 engaged in sexual acts with adults.
He received a three-year Community Rehabilitation Order and an order to remain on the Sex Offenders Register for five years, a fine of £600 towards prosecution costs and had to forfeit his computer and hard-drive.
Godfrey asked the GOC to take into consideration that he was 58 years old at the time and had been practising for 35 years. He added this was 'one blemish on a previously spotless reputation and lifestyle' and his actions had not 'impinged on my work and reputation with the local community'.
Committee chairman Heather Wilcox, announcing the erasure, said: 'We regret that a man of previously good character should be subject to disciplinary proceedings, but we have no doubt that Mr Godfrey's conviction has brought the profession into disrepute.
'We do not feel it right that a person on the Sex Offenders Register should continue to examine patients, and particularly young patients.
'We have accordingly decided that Mr Godfrey's name be erased from the register.'
Read the full determination at www.optical.org