Plan B Forum

A pharmacist who made crude remarks to three of his female colleagues has escaped with a warning after a panel heard he came from a 'restrictive Muslim background' and was unaware of the offence his conduct had caused.



Khalil Jamil asked one of the women about her favourite love-making position and quizzed another about the mating habits of her horses - but a professional panel ruled his behaviour was not sexually motivated.

The General Pharmaceutical Council panel found Jamil acted inappropriately by making the comments and standing too close to his assistants.

However, they accepted that his background in a strict Muslim community meant he was unfamiliar to working in such an open environment with women and his basic social skills meant he lacked understanding of appropriate conduct.

As the remarks were not sexually motivated the panel cleared Jamil of misconduct and gave him an official warning.

It also took into consideration the fact that Jamil had remedied his actions by attending a 'dignity at work' course.

Panel chairman Patrick Malmo QC said: ‘He felt the source of this behaviour in 2009, was that he comes from a very restrictive background, with little social life, and none at all outside of his own community.

‘He lacked social skills, and had little knowledge of how one should be when working with colleagues.

‘He was unable to distinguish between friendliness and over familiarity.’

Mr Malmo added: ‘We do not think there is a serious risk of this kind of conduct being repeated.

‘Although we do not find the registrant impaired, we have the ability to issue a warning, and given the circumstances of this case, we believe it is necessary to do so.’

A paedophile who downloaded child porn has been spared jail after a judge said locking him up could be more dangerous to society in the long term.

Jason Fairfax, 35, of Bargoed, south Wales, had amassed a collection of around 2,700 indecent images when police raided his home earlier this year.

The photographs and videos were later graded from one to five - with the higher the category, the more serious the offence.

Cardiff Crown Court heard almost a third of the images were at the higher end of the scale - with 786 level four and 29 level five images.

The details of the photographs were so serious, Judge David Wyn Morgan asked the media not to publish their details.

He said: 'When the police investigated your computer, they found a staggering number of images that were indecent.

'There was a very large number of them at the top end of the scale, at level four and five.

'The natural reaction of any decent human being would be that you should go to prison for as long as possible.

'But when the revulsion has subsided, the court must consider precisely what that would achieve.

'You would go into prison as sex offender and still come out as one - just as dangerous if not more so than you are at the moment.

'And the protection of the public must be of paramount concern to the court.'

Verb: perve  purv
Usage: Austral, NZ
Look at with amorous intentions
- ogle, perv [Austral, NZ]
 
To look lecherously

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is the independent regulator for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy premises in Great Britain.

It is our job to protect, promote and maintain the health, safety and wellbeing of members of the public by upholding standards and public trust in pharmacy.

Our principal functions include:

• approving qualifications for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians and accrediting education and training providers;
• maintaining a register of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy premises;
• setting standards for conduct, ethics, proficiency, education and training, and continuing professional development (CPD);
• establishing and promoting standards for the safe and effective practice of pharmacy at registered pharmacies;
• establishing fitness to practise requirements, monitoring pharmacy professionals' fitness to practise and dealing fairly and proportionately with complaints and concerns.

By putting him on probation he was able to impose conditions such as treatment and restrictions on contact and internet use to deter him from re-offending.