Student optometrist erased after burgalry conviction

A Greater Manchester student optometrist convicted of aggravated burglary has been erased from General Optical Council registers by a fitness to practise committee.

Gurinder Ranshi was suspended for 18 months in January 2014 after he was convicted for aggravated burglary in 2012. During the robbery, Ranshi tried to escape from a first floor window and broke his back. For his part in the offence, he was sentenced to seven and a half years imprisonment.

In making its decision, the committee, chaired by Rachel O’Connell, said: ‘The committee noted that this was a particularly serious offence. The registrant and others forcibly entered the home of victims who had been targeted. Weapons were taken to the premises and violence was used - albeit not by the registrant. Nevertheless, this was a joint enterprise.