Norfolk optometrist Alexander Pennington has been suspended from the General Optical Council (GOC) register for three months.
The GOC committee found Pennington’s fitness to practice impaired after he failed to inform the GOC of two criminal convictions when renewing his registration in 2014 and 2015.
He was convicted and fined in October 2013 following a violent altercation and then again in February 2014 for burning materials on his property.
Pennington was found by the committee to have breached the GOC code of conduct which requires registrants to be ‘honest and trustworthy’.
Speaking at the hearing, Pennington acknowledged that he knew the convictions should have been disclosed but was fearful of the consequences of disclosure.
Committee chair Rachel O’Connell said: ‘The Committee acknowledged that the convictions had no relation to the Registrant’s clinical practice, however it considered that convictions of this nature did damage public confidence in the profession. Taking account of the Registrant’s evidence as a whole, the Committee considered the risk of future dishonesty to be low.’
Pennington will begin his suspension period on February 2, 2017 if an appeal is not lodged before this date.