Radiographer Adrian Prydden, from Frodsham, struck off for groping boy and sending explicit text messages

Jan 14 2010 by Paul Mannion, Chester Chronicle

A RADIOGRAPHER from Frodsham who groped an 11-year-old boy while performing an X-ray and sent explicit text messages to a 16-year-old Cub Scout was struck off by the Health Professions Council (HPC) yesterday.

The professional standards regulator for the health profession found Adrian Prydden, of Water- sedge, guilty of serious misconduct.

An inquiry heard married Prydden, who was working at Alder Hey Hospital, Liverpool, in April 2006, groped an 11-year-old boy who was brought in for an X-ray of his pelvis after a car accident.

Elizabeth Taheri, of the HPC, said: “The boy became distressed after Prydden told him he was ‘going to find his bones’.

“The patient made a complaint when, during the X-ray, he pulled down the boy's boxer shorts and touched his genitals.”

Warren Town, defending, asked for the boy’s DVD interview to be excluded from proceedings, saying it was prepared for a court hearing when Prydden was charged with sexual assault, a case which later collapsed.

Two years earlier Prydden was fired for sending explicit messages to a 16-year-old Cub Scout, but was reinstated by Royal Liverpool Children’s NHS Trust after an appeal.

The former Scoutmaster bombarded the teenager with anonymous text messages offering to meet up for ‘a bit of fun’.

Prydden said he was unable to give an explanation for sending the texts, claiming ‘confusion’, and denied they were sexually motivated.

Elizabeth Taheri, for the HPC, said: “Clearly the facts amount to misconduct. He must have known he shouldn’t have been sending text messages to a boy in his trust.”

Ian Crookall, chairman of the HPC hearing, said: “The failure to appreciate his abuse of trust has a direct link into his professional status as a healthcare professional.

“The panel finds the only appropriate and proportionate sanction is a striking-off order.”