A paediatric nurse dismissed for viewing online hardcore pornography at work has escaped being struck off the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) professional register.

Steven Truscott was sacked from his job at the Middlesex Adolescent Unit after committing six offences of serious misconduct during March 2002. The subsequent NMC caution he received was considered unduly lenient by the Council for the Regulation of Healthcare Professionals (CRHP), which went to the High Court seeking a new hearing and harsher punishment.

However, the High Court judge, Mr Justice Collins, ruled that the NMC’s caution was not unduly lenient: "Accessing adult pornography is not criminal, and the circumstances in which Mr Truscott accessed it demonstrates poor judgement. It fully justified his dismissal."

Justice Collins would not allow the CRHP to take the matter to the Court of Appeal and further instucted it to pay Mr Truscott and the NMC's legal costs.

The caution will remain on Mr Truscott's record for five years. ®