Children's nurse is a paedophile

Published on Monday 2 March 2009 21:21

A CONVICTED paedophile was arrested while working as a children's nurse in a hospital.

Lars Gellner, 37, was arrested at work at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, north London.

The German had been convicted in his absence by a court in Cambodia for a string of attacks on young boys but was able to get through security checks in this country because he has no European criminal record.

Detective Sergeant Sam Hayward said: "Our team have stopped this man creating more child victims in this country.

"But no blame should be attached to the hospitals. They did everything they could to carry out the criminal checks on him and they came back showing nothing."

Gellner was placed on the sex offenders' register after his arrest in 2007 and charged with fraud for his failure to include his criminal record on his job application.

But the case against him was thrown out on Thursday by a judge at Aylesbury Crown Court because of a problem with documents sent from Cambodia.

A Home Office spokesman refused to comment on the case but it is believed Gellner is being held at a remand centre while his future is decided.

The government can deport him because he was sentenced to more than 12 months in prison for his original offences.

Christine Beddoe, director of End Child Prostitution and Trafficking, said: "This highlights the gaps and weaknesses of international sex offender management which puts children at risk here.

"If the Home Secretary is serious about getting tough on sex offenders who travel abroad, she should be making all efforts to close loopholes and work more closely with counterparts in Europe and Asia."

A spokeswoman for North West London Hospitals Trust confirmed that Gellner had worked at the hospital.

She said: "He was employed through an agency and we can confirm that they conducted an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check. Our contracts with employment agencies stipulate that CRB checks must be carried out on staff supplied to us."