Carer was found to have indecent images of children
A CHILD carer found to be in possession of indecent images of children told a colleague he “drew the line at 11” when it came to the age of sexual partners.
David Griffith, who worked for charity Action for Children and was based at a home in Cardiff, was accused of sending inappropriate text messages to a work colleague regarding his sex life.
After sending a photo of a man in his late teens who was naked from the waist up and holding a baby, Mr Griffith text the colleague saying “slept with the one on the left”, referring to the teenager.
He then said “I draw the line at 11” when the colleague responded “why not nine?”.
A Social Care Wales fitness to practice hearing held in Southgate House, Cardiff, on Monday heard Mr Griffith pleaded guilty to possessing two indecent images of children at Cardiff Crown Court in November 2018.
He was given an absolute discharge as the images were sent to him unsolicited by a man he was having a “flirtatious conversation” with by email.
The court heard that Mr Griffith was “disgusted” by the images and told the man to stop messaging him, but he failed to report the matter to the police.
Following Mr Griffith’s arrest at his place of work, a woman referred to in the hearing as “colleague A” reported text messages she had received from Mr Griffith to a manager.
In a statement read out to the hearing, Action for Children registered manager Shirley Steffen said: “There were photographs included in the text message of a young man in his late teens, naked from the waist up and holding a baby.
“It seemed to be a personal photo taken on a mobile phone.
“I interviewed colleague A and she seemed shocked at the allegations and at the time of the text messages she was a new member of staff and David was a superviser.
“She said only after David was arrested did she really appreciate the significance of the text messages.
“(Referring to the photograph) colleague A commented that David said ‘slept with the one on the left.’
“She said she felt he didn’t need to clarify which one he had slept with.
“She said they went on to discuss the age of people David had slept with and he said ‘I draw the line at 11’ and colleague A replied ‘why not nine?.’
“She said it was just banter and didn’t see the significance of it at the time as it was just the way he and A talked to each other.”
Case presenter Graham Miles, representing Social Care Wales, said the final allegation against Mr Griffith concerned a Facebook exchange between himself and a male colleague, referred to as colleague B, in February 2018.
As part of the exchange, Mr Griffith wrote: “When (colleague B) cooks a curry but ends up looking like a plate of mushy peas.”
Colleague B replied that the kids enjoyed it to which Mr Griffith wrote: “They do just eat anything”.
Colleague B then said: “Ahi, was a Korma so fairly milky anyway”, to which Mr Griffith replied: “Reminds me of certain nappies”.
As a result of the Facebook exchange, a parent made a complaint to Action for Children having seen the post on Mr Griffith’s page, due to him being a friend on the social network.
They said the post made them feel “upset” and “offended”.
It is alleged that Mr Griffith’s actions in the three separate incidents amounted to serious misconduct and impairs his fitness to practice as a child carer.
Mr Griffith, who did not attend the fitness to practice hearing, responded to the allegations in an email to Social Care Wales.
In reference to the indecent image conviction, he said: “As soon as I saw the first image sent to me I deleted the conversation and blocked that person.
“I was advised by my barrister to plead guilty even though I hadn’t received the images because in a split second I was in possession of that image.
“It wasn’t a case of downloading indecent images or abuse.
“The police arrested me without prior warning so there was no time to delete anything and nothing was found on my phone of illegal content.
“The person sent me a batch of images and I didn’t know what it was. My biggest failure was not reporting it to the police but it was not an everyday situation and I was nervous about how the police would react.”
Mr Griffith said the Facebook post had been “blown out of proportion” by Action for Children and his messages to colleague A was just “banter” and their “sense of humour”.
He added: “I have never had an unhealthy interest in anyone of an illegal age.
“I loved my job and I gave the kids in my care 110% and made sure they enjoyed their stay with us.”
The fitness to practice panel found the allegations against Mr Griffith as proven.
Yesterday, the body announced Griffith was immediately suspended and will be removed from the register on September 9.