Doctor snared by paedophile hunters has been struck off

NOTTINGHAM-TRAINED MEDIC THOUGHT HE WAS SENDING PHOTOS AND VIDEOS TO 14-YEAR-OLD BOY

A DOCTOR who was caught by paedophile hunters has now been struck off the medical register after being sentenced last year.

Doctor Joshua Ian Peake, who qualified in 2014 at the University of Nottingham and practised in Nottingham, was located and detained by an online child activist group known as TFN UK in September 2019.

He was subsequently arrested and sentenced last year for his crimes, before being erased from the medical register during a Medical Practitioners Tribunal held in Manchester between August 11 and 12 this year.

The tribunal chair, William Hoskins, determined Peake was unfit to practise and he was struck off completely from the register with immediate effect.

The outcome was determined after the tribunal heard the facts of the case.

Following Peake’s arrest on September 15, 2019, the police were informed that TFN UK had been talking to him online using the identity of a fictitious boy.

It was reported that Peake had been sending the fictional child photos and videos, knowing that he was 14.

During the police interview, Peake acknowledged that on August 14 that same year he had started a conversation with the person, whom he believed to be called “Luke”, and he had wanted to see the boy naked, and the conversations culminated in Peake sending a short video showing him performing a sex act.

Peake’s response to the police was that he had been intoxicated when he first entered into the conversations and stated from the photographs of “Luke”, that he did not believe him to be under 18, although he confirmed he had been told in the course of the dialogue that “Luke” was 14.

When the police searched his property and electronic devices, officers discovered imagery depicting a child, together with 26 images of people performing sexual acts on live animals.

On August 19 last year, Peake was convicted of possessing an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child on three counts, possession of extreme images including the act of intercourse with a dead or alive animal as well as attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

He was also found guilty of causing a child between 13 and 15 to watch or look at an image of sexual activity.

On September 9, 2020, he was then sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court to a three-year community order, including 80-hours unpaid work, rehabilitation for 30 days and he was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years.

His name was also placed on the Barring List by the Disclosure and Barring Service and he had to forfeit a laptop and Macbook and to pay a victim surcharge of £90.

During the most recent tribunal David Birrell, for the General Medical Council (GMC), submitted that Peake’s fitness to practise was impaired by reason of his conviction and said that it was “very serious offending”.

Mr Birrell said mitigating factors included the fact Peake had no previous fitness to practiae findings and stated he pleaded guilty at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court.

However, he told the tribunal he had also put forward a potential defence and said the public would be outraged if Peake was simply suspended from the medical register, rather than erased.

The tribunal verdict stated: “Accordingly, the tribunal has determined to direct that Dr Peake’s name be erased from the Medical Register.

“In the light of all the evidence presented to it, it is satisfied that erasure is the only proportionate sanction in his case.”