Doctor struck off over child sex photos

The actions of Jon-Leon Armes, 28, a junior doctor in psychiatry, were “morally unacceptable” and brought the standing of his profession into disrepute, a General Medical Council (GMC) disciplinary panel found.

Armes, a Sheffield University graduate who worked in Leeds between August 2008 and June 2011, was given a suspended prison sentence last year after pleading guilty to 12 charges of making an indecent photograph of a child.

The panel heard that Armes, posing as someone else, started an internet conversation with a 16-year-old boy and offered to send inappropriate pictures of one of two young girls he claimed to be babysitting.

He sent an obscene picture the next day, after which the boy contacted police.

Officers arrested Armes in September 2010 and found 376 child abuse images and 105 videos on his laptop computer. The doctor later claimed he inadvertently found the images when visiting adult gay websites.

Armes pleaded guilty at Leeds Magistrates’ Court in June last year and was later given an eight-month prison term, suspended for two years. He was placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

Douglas Fraser, medical director at Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “On being made aware of the arrest and charges made against Jon-Leon Armes, the trust took immediate steps to exclude him from his workplace.

“There was then a full internal inquiry run alongside the police and GMC investigations. There was no evidence of any inappropriate or unprofessional behaviour during his time with the trust.

“He did not return to work following exclusion and was formally dismissed by the trust following the police investigation on Thursday, June 23, 2011.”