A student at an Aberdeen university has been struck off the social work register after it was revealed he had committed a sex crime against a young girl when he was a boy.
The man, who is not named in the report, was involved in an incident around 1995 when he was aged 13 or 14 and working as a paper boy. The girl was aged seven or eight at the time.
A sub-committee of the Scottish Social Services Council heard this month that the man’s history had come to light when he was on a work placement as part of his Masters of Social Work degree course at Robert Gordon University (RGU).
He lied about his past when he applied to the register in July 2012.
Now the council has ordered his student registration be revoked after hearing evidence from the university.
The report says the man met staff on a number of occasions after the case was revealed.
It reads: “At the second (meeting), the registrant disclosed that he had gone to a local girl’s house when working as a paper boy when he was 13 or 14 years old. The girl had come to the door with pornographic material.
“The registrant performed a penetrative sexual act on the girl.
“The girl later disclosed this to a babysitter and the police became involved. The registrant was charged by the police but no further action was taken.”
The report added: “The misconduct found established by the sub-committee was extremely serious and involved a combination of sexual misconduct and dishonesty.”
An RGU spokeswoman said: “The information was not disclosed in the individual’s application to the MSc Social Work.
“On disclosure of the information, an application was immediately made and secured by the School of Applied Social Studies to formally suspend the student pending investigation by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC).
“Following the result of the SSSC’s investigation, the university will complete its processes according to its academic regulations.”
