Parents not told of child psychiatrist caught with child pornography

Berkshire (England) mental healthcare director Philippa Slinger has denied there was a cover-up when parents were not told a psychiatrist who treated 176 youngsters had been trapped in a police child porn probe. Married father-of-two Julian Morrell was suspended for a year by the General Medical Council on Tuesday after it heard he paid to watch internet pornography involving children on his home computer. He was trapped in the nationwide police dragnet codenamed Operation Ore which also brought the arrest of The Who guitarist Pete Townsend.

But the GMC ruled that while viewing the images was tantamount to child abuse he should not be permanently struck off because he does not pose a threat. Dr Morrell, of Banbury Road, Oxford, used the US-based site in 1999 while working in Oxford-shire and did not become a consultant with the Reading-based Berkshire Healthcare NHS Trust until 2001. A month after discovering the allegations in January last year the trust sacked him - but families were not told until last week.

This story has been reported widely in Britain