Female nurse posed as male doc to con women into sending explicit pics
Court told how accused stalked women online
THE case of a nurse who used a voice-changing app to pose as a male doctor and dupe women into sending her explicit photos was described as the “most astounding” a sheriff had ever heard. Adele Rennie, 27, used aliases and the app to trawl social media and dating websites before meeting unsuspecting victims on fake dates.
The former staff nurse at Crosshouse Hospital in Ayrshire admitted 18 separate charges of stalking, causing fear and alarm, sexual offences, data protection breaches, attempting to pervert justice and breaching bail between 2012 and 2016.
Prosecutor Scott Toal told Kilmarnock Sheriff Court how in December 2012, Rennie made a friend request on Facebook to a 22-year-old woman and introduced herself as Doctor David Crolla.
Exactly two years later, she sent the same woman another message saying she was Dr David Graham, lived in Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, and his mother had died of cancer. Rennie phoned the victim, who “noticed she had a strange voice”, Mr Toal said.
The woman grew suspicious and messaged: “Is this you? Surely not.” Rennie failed to call her after saying he would.
In 2013, she targeted another of her 10 victims on Facebook, saying she was David Graham and worked in intensive care at Glasgow Southern General Hospital. The woman gave out her number and they chatted on Messenger and over the phone.
When the woman suggested a meeting, Rennie gave “crazy reasons not to”, including his sister was dying, but still engaged in sexual chat.
Later that year, Rennie had a night out with colleagues, including a 23-year-old woman, who she contacted on Facebook posing as Dr Graham. Rennie persuaded her to send pictures of her in her underwear and in return sent explicit images. Other victims included a 17-year-old girl on the Tinder dating app and a 24-year-old she befriended on Facebook, who sent explicit sexual messages after “relentless” pestering.
A woman of 27 was then targeted after arriving on Rennie’s ward to visit her grandad in 2014. She received a Facebook message from Rennie in her David Graham persona, asking if she was a relative of the patient.
A friend noticed the woman had been befriended by the alias and warned her this had happened to another female and it was an attempt to dupe her.
Rennie sent another victim pictures of a male model , pretending they were of Matthew Mancini, another alias. She also accessed NHS computers illegally and made fake ID in his name in a bid to stop a victim calling the police.
A police probe found that Rennie had resigned from Crosshouse Hospital during an NHS investigation after she was confronted by a victim. When they went to her home, she had deleted her social media apps and internet history, tried to hide her phone then deliberately locked it by using the wrong passcode.
Sheriff Elizabeth McFarlane told Rennie, who was earlier placed on the sex offenders’ register: “I have just heard the most astounding narrative of facts I think I’ve heard in my entire judicial career.”
Sheriff McFarlane told Rennie she should expect a custodial sentence next month.
Professor Hazel Boreland, nurse director at NHS Ayrshire & Arran, said: “We were alerted to serious misconduct issues, immediately suspended the individual and conducted a full investigation. This individual never returned to NHS Ayrshire & Arran and we reported our concerns to police and the Nursing and Midwifery Council.”
I’ve just heard the most astounding narrative of facts in my career SHERIFF McFARLANE