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WARNING: This article contains language and content some readers may find distressing

As a single mum, Lucy* looked forward to her rare nights out. A few years ago, during after-work drinks at a local pub, she started feeling unwell. When she collapsed and passed out, a bouncer called an ambulance. Lucy’s drink had been spiked.

The ambulance was crewed by two paramedics, a man and a woman. Still unconscious, Lucy was placed on a stretcher, strapped on to the bed, and driven towards the hospital.

After a scary episode, Lucy’s friends must have breathed a sigh of relief. She was safe, and being looked after. But, as the female ambulance driver looked in her rear-view mirror to check on Lucy, she says she saw the unimaginable – her male colleague sexually assaulting his patient.

Lucy still doesn’t remember what happened, but she has the police report and crime scene pictures of the inside of the ambulance.

Pointing to a photo of where she was strapped down, she says almost matter-of-factly: “He put my legs up, so my knees were up, and put his hand inside my groin area – possibly touching my vagina.”

When she regained consciousness, she was told what had happened to her. Years later, she is still struggling to process it.

The paramedic denied the charges and was found not guilty at trial, but later struck off by the paramedics’ regulator, the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

They have a lower standard of proof than the criminal courts, and found against him, calling him a “serious threat to patient safety”.

Lucy still wouldn’t feel safe getting into an ambulance today. “It’s awful, you feel so violated and vulnerable,” she says.

Rebecca Hendin illustration for Rachael Venables piece

“It’s a shock to think someone in that position would do that, when they’re supposed to be there to look after you.”

Her story is horrific, but Lucy is not alone. It forms part of a year-long Sky News investigation into sexual misconduct in the ambulance service, which has revealed a culture where abuse and harassment among staff are rife and patients are sexualised.

A senior ambulance boss admits the service has “let victims down”, while stressing that perpetrators are the “minority”.

Jason Killens, head of the Welsh Ambulance Service and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, says he expects “a steady increase” in the number of cases, with more paramedics being sacked for sexually inappropriate behaviour over the coming years, because of the work his organisation is doing to change the culture.

Data shared with Sky News shows one in five of the sexual misconduct complaints made against paramedics to their regulator, the Health and Care Professions Council, in 2023 were for acts against patients or members of the public.

While fewer than 1% of all HCPC members had concerns raised against them last year, in sexual misconduct cases, paramedics were hugely over-represented.

They make up just 11% of the HCPC register, but account for 64% of all investigations into sexual harassment against colleagues. The regulator’s chair, Christine Elliot, thinks the sexual misconduct cases are “just the tip of the iceberg”.

Rebecca Hendin illustration for Rachael Venables piece

“This is all about patient safety,” she says. “Patients need to know when they see a practitioner, they can rely on them giving the best care possible with the best behaviour possible.”

‘Totally unnecessary breast examinations’

Cases like Lucy’s are rare but several whistleblowers across multiple trusts have spoken up about a culture in which “banter” or jokes about groping patients are commonplace.

Current and former paramedics claim to have heard patients, particularly young women, being sexualised by the men who had helped to treat or even save them.

One former paramedic revealed the phrase “totally unnecessary breast examinations” (or TUBEs), and said she had heard paramedics talking about “TUBEing” young, drunk women. She also claims to have seen a colleague grope another colleague’s breasts, telling her: “I just TUBEed you.”

A second woman said the same phenomenon was called “jazz hands” in her trust. Both said these were widely understood phrases which referred to colleagues accidentally, or deliberately, touching a woman’s breast during treatment.

A third paramedic told us she’d heard colleagues talk about patients in an explicitly sexual manner, saying things like: “She had nice tits” or “those were silicone”, while bragging about getting a patient’s number and having a “good feel”.

“That is assault. That is sexual assault,” she says.

Rebecca Hendin illustration for Rachael Venables piece

‘It will be fun. Your career will progress’

“One of my biggest fears was that I wouldn’t be believed because of where I worked. It was the ambulance service and he was the man in charge,” says Ellie*, whose first job was as a call handler in an ambulance control room.

She loved the camaraderie and the idea that she was making a difference. Until one day, the manager called her into his office and invited her to a conference with him. At first, she was flattered and a little confused.

“He explained that he’d taken a liking to me and then he reached out and touched my leg.” Shocked, Ellie froze. “I was in my early 20s and didn’t know what his intention was. I was a bit naive, probably.” As he carried on talking, her boss slid his hand “as far up my thigh as it could go”.

Horrified, she shot back in her chair and asked him what he was doing.

“If you come, we’ll share a room. It will be fun. Your career will progress,” her boss replied.

“No,” she exclaimed, rushing out the room in a panic. Back at her desk, she carried on taking 999 calls while he watched over her.

Then she claims the messages started: “They were photos of his private parts, as well as messages suggesting meeting in the car park for sex and saying he wanted to kiss me. A whole manner of very descriptive sexual actions that he said he wanted to do with me.”

The messages carried on “for months”, she says, despite her pleading with him to stop. She was left dreading going to work for fear of seeing him, and avoided going to the toilet in case she ran into him in the corridor.

Venables paramedics piece

Eventually she showed the messages to HR, she says, but claims they suggested moving her to a different office. He wouldn’t be punished.

“It was sexual harassment,” Ellie says, caught between anger and despair. “They didn’t do anything. There was no investigation. No meeting with him that I’m aware of. No statement from me. Nothing. I was the problem.”

She eventually quit the service, but alleges he still works there to this day, an injustice that “makes me feel sick” she says.

An NHS England spokesperson said new national guidance and training has been recently introduced “to stamp out this awful behaviour”.

“Any abuse or violence directed at NHS staff is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated, and the NHS is committed to tackling unwanted, inappropriate or harmful sexual behaviour in the workplace. We have recently introduced new national guidance and training that will help staff recognise, report and act on sexual misconduct at work to stamp out this awful behaviour,” they said.

‘We failed those individuals… I’m sorry’

Ellie’s story is simply “not right”, says ambulance boss Mr Killens.

“We failed those individuals,” he admits, saying “I’m sorry” to both staff and patients who have “been subject to poor behaviour from our people”.

What should the NHS do if a serious complaint of sexual abuse is made about a paramedic?

Anyone can raise a concern about a paramedic’s fitness to practise including patients, colleagues, police or members of the public.

Where the complaint is serious the NHS is expected to directly raise a concern with the regulator, the Health and Care Professions Council.

What happens when a paramedic is referred to the HCPC for a complaint of sexual abuse?

If the concern is very serious they can apply for an interim order to prevent someone from practising or to place conditions on how they can work until the case has been closed.

The claim is investigated and eventually considered by an independent tribunal panel who can impose a number of sanctions.

They can strike someone off the register or impose a temporary suspension; place a condition of practice or a caution order; or decide no further action is necessary.

How long does it take?

In 2023/24 it was around 160 weeks from receipt of a complaint to reaching the final decision

Why does it take so long?

Last year, there were a total of 2,226 concerns raised, a 26% increase from the previous year.

The HCPC say they face external pressures, like delays from NHS trusts, complex investigations, or having to run alongside the criminal justice system.

They also say “archaic” laws mean they have to take a huge amount of cases to a full tribunal, even when the preference might be to drop the case sooner and want legislative change.

Work is being done, he says, to tackle this kind of behaviour, citing it as his, and his organisation’s, top priority.

That will involve rooting out the perpetrators, but also playing the “long game” to change the culture “so that we can begin to tackle low level misconduct or inappropriate behaviour early, rather than let it fester and get worse,” he says.

According to the HCPC’s chair, cultural change is needed from leadership down. Sexual harassment, Elliot says, needs to be treated as high a priority as “waiting times and crumbling hospitals”.

Read more from this investigation:
Life as a female paramedic
‘Toxic’ culture of harassment revealed

But many of the victims we have spoken to say the HCPC takes too long (an average of three years) to investigate misconduct allegations.

Elliot agrees that isn’t good enough, but says they are running initiatives to speed things up, and wants to see legislative change to give her organisation more power to speed up investigations.

They have also created a sexual safety hub for both victims and witnesses of inappropriate behaviour.

It can be hard to hear allegations like Lucy and Ellie’s, contrasting their stories with a service in which the majority of people are dedicated to saving lives.

But it’s also clear that for far too long, abusers and those who commit sexually inappropriate behaviour have operated with impunity in the ambulance service. Some were perhaps protected by allegiances or cover-ups, many others simply hid behind the veneer of “banter”.

Ambulance and NHS bosses have made it clear to Sky News they are determined to root out not just the perpetrators of serious sexual violence, but also to stamp out the culture that breeds this behaviour.

But in the meantime women like Lucy, Ellie and countless others won’t hear an ambulance siren and feel safe, telling us they would even struggle to dial 999 in the case of a medical emergency.

*names have been changed

Illustrations by Rebecca Hendin

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK

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Child sexual abuse victims ‘denied justice’ after compensation scheme scrapped over cost

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Child sexual abuse victims 'denied justice' after compensation scheme scrapped over cost

Sky News can reveal that the government has rowed back on a national compensation scheme for victims of child sexual abuse, despite it being promised under the previous Conservative administration.

Warning – this story contains references to sexual and physical abuse

A National Redress Scheme was one of 20 key recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), but a Home Office report reveals the government has scrapped it because of the cost.

Marie, who is 71, suffered alleged sexual, physical, and emotional abuse at Greenfield House Convent in St Helens, Merseyside, between 1959 and 1962, and is still fighting for compensation.

Greenfield House Convent, where Marie says she was abused
Image:
Greenfield House Convent, where Marie says she was abused

As soon as she arrived as a six-year-old, Marie says her hair was cut off, her name changed, and she experienced regular beatings from the nuns and students.

She claims a nun instigated the violence, including when Marie was held down so that her legs were “spread-eagled” as she was sexually abused with a coat hanger.

Merseyside Police investigated claims of abuse at the convent, but in 2016, a suspect died before charges could be brought.

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Marie has received an apology from the Catholic body that ran the home; she tried to sue them, but her claim was rejected because it was filed too long after the alleged abuse.

Marie is still fighting for compensation for the abuse she suffered
Image:
Marie, 71, is still fighting for compensation for the abuse she says she suffered as a child

In February, ministers said the law would change for victims of sexual abuse trying to sue institutions for damages, which was a recommendation from the IICSA.

Previously, people had to make a civil claim before they were 21, unless the victim could prove a fair trial could proceed despite the time lapse.

Campaigners argued for the time limit to be removed as, on average, victims wait 26 years to come forward. Changes to the 1980 Limitation Act could lead to more people making claims.

Peter Garsden, President of The Association of Child Abuse Lawyers
Image:
Peter Garsden, President of The Association of Child Abuse Lawyers

Civil cases ‘can take three to five years’

But Peter Garsden, president of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, worries that when it comes to historical abuse where the defendant is dead, institutions will still argue that it is impossible to have a fair trial and will fight to have the case thrown out of court.

Mr Garsden said it takes “between three and five years” for a civil case to get to trial.

He warned that claimants “can end up losing if you go through that process. Whereas the Redress Scheme would be quicker, much more straightforward, and much more likely to give justice to the victims”.

Victim awarded £10 compensation

Jimbo, who was a victim of abuse at St Aidan’s children’s home in Cheshire, took his case to the High Court twice and the Court of Appeal three times, but, after 13 years, all he ended up with was £10 for his bus fare to court.

Despite the Lord Justice of Appeal saying he believed that the abuse had occurred, Jimbo lost his claim because of the time limit for child sexual abuse claims to be made.

Read more from Sky News:
Call for Labour minister to resign over grooming gang remarks
PM says govt will fund further local grooming gangs inquiries if ‘needed’

Neither Marie nor Jimbo is likely to benefit from the removal of the time limit for personal injury claims, which is why Mr Garsden is calling on the government to implement a National Redress Scheme for victims of sexual abuse, as recommended by the IICSA.

Hundreds of millions paid to victims

The governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland have set up compensation schemes and paid hundreds of millions of pounds to victims.

In 2023, the then Conservative government said a similar scheme would be organised for England and Wales.

But the Home Office admitted in its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse: Progress Update that it “is not currently taking forward any further steps on the IICSA proposal for a separate, national financial redress scheme for all survivors of child sexual abuse”.

“In the current fiscal environment, this recommendation is very difficult to take forward,” it added.

For victims, the scheme was the last chance of compensation for a lifetime blighted by abuse.

“The money is about justice and about all the other people who have had to suffer this abuse,” Marie said.

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Five men arrested in connection with suspected terrorist plot

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Five men arrested in connection with suspected terrorist plot

Five men have been arrested on suspicion of the preparation of a terrorist act, according to the Metropolitan Police.

Counter-terror officers arrested the five men, four of whom are Iranian nationals, on Saturday, with all currently in police custody.

The Met said the arrests related to a “suspected plot to target a specific premises”.

In an update shortly after midnight, the force said: “Officers have been in contact with the affected site to make them aware and provide relevant advice and support, but for operational reasons, we are not able to provide further information at this time.”

It added officers were carrying out searches at a number of addresses in the Greater Manchester, London and Swindon areas in connection with the investigation.

It said those detained were:

• A 29-year-old man arrested in the Swindon area
• A 46-year-old man arrested in west London
• A 29-year-old man arrested in the Stockport area
• A 40-year-old man arrested in the Rochdale area
• A man whose age was not confirmed arrested in the Manchester area.

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Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “This is a fast-moving investigation and we are working closely with those at the affected site to keep them updated.

“The investigation is still in its early stages and we are exploring various lines of enquiry to establish any potential motivation as well as to identify whether there may be any further risk to the public linked to this matter.

“We understand the public may be concerned and as always, I would ask them to remain vigilant and if they see or hear anything that concerns them, then to contact us.

“We are working closely with local officers in the areas where we have made arrests today and I’d like to thank police colleagues around the country for their ongoing support.”

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

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Fourteen children arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after industrial fire in Gateshead

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Fourteen children arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after industrial fire in Gateshead

Fourteen children aged between 11 and 14 years old have been arrested after a boy died in a fire at an industrial site.

Northumbria Police said the group – 11 boys and three girls – were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after the incident in Gateshead on Friday. They remain in police custody.

Officers were called to reports of a fire near Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area shortly after 8pm.

Emergency services attended, and the fire was extinguished a short time later.

Police then issued an appeal for a missing boy, Layton Carr, who was believed to be in the area at the time of the fire.

In a statement, the force said that “sadly, following searches, a body believed to be that of 14-year-old Layton Carr was located deceased inside the building”.

Layton’s next of kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers, police added.

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Detective Chief Inspector Louise Jenkins, of Northumbria Police, also said: “This is an extremely tragic incident where a boy has sadly lost his life.”

She added that the force’s “thoughts are with Layton’s family as they begin to attempt to process the loss of their loved one”, and asked that their privacy be respected.

A cordon remains in place at the site of the incident.

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