Broadmoor mental health nurse Aswani Dreepaul convicted of sexual communication with child to be struck off
Aswani Dreepaul received a suspended prison sentence and was placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years after being convicted on March 25 last year at Reading Magistrates’ Court.
A nursing and midwifery council (NMC) fitness to practise committee issued an interim suspension order for 18 months on Wednesday as a striking-off order cannot take effect until the end of a 28-day appeal period.
The committee heard that for two weeks prior to his arrest in February 2023, Dreepaul was engaging in sexual communications over social media with a person whom he believed to be a 13-year-old girl, but who was actually a member of an activist group acting as a decoy.
The panel considered that there was a “potential future risk of sexual harm to members of the public, in particular female children”.
The committee found his conduct to be “fundamentally incompatible with the standards and values expected of a registered nurse”, adding he had “brought the nursing profession into disrepute”.
In an email to the council on August 4 2026, Dreepaul said because of his court sentence and upon the advice of his solicitor, he felt that he could not return to his nursing career.
In the email, Dreepaul wrote: “With all my regret, I accepted the NMC’s allegations, namely my criminal conviction, that my conduct amounts to misconduct, and that my fitness to practise is currently impaired.”Dreepaul informed his employer following his release on bail and was subsequently suspended from his employment, and later resigned from Broadmoor Hospital on August 21 2023.