Violent social worker smashed life-saving A&E equipment and booted cop in the groin

Gary Stewart, 43, lashed out while he was being treated in the accident and emergency department of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital on April 3 this year.

He punched the £20,000 Philips Observation Unit, smashing the screen and damaging the pricey kit irreparably.

The device, provides a constant monitor of a patient’s vital signs including blood pressure and heart rate and was one of only 12 in the hospital.

Stewart, of Shawmill Road, Pollokshaws, was convicted of malicious damage at Glasgow Sheriff Court following the incident.

He arrived at the hospital at 4am on April 3 with injuries to his chest, neck and leg and “became severely irate and requested several times that he wished to leave the hospital.”

Around 6am, Stewart was informed he was next to be treated, at which point he “immediately got off the bed, turned to the right and swung a punch at the Phillips Observation machine.”

The social worker was employed by the Mungo Foundation, at Southside Dementia Services in Glasgow.

A report by the Scottish Social Services Council lists a number of other convictions for Stewart.

He was convicted at Edinburgh Sheriff Court of Malicious Mischief on March 21 2016.

The previous day he lashed out at police officers and resisted arrest which culminated in him kicking a constable in the groin, “to his injury.”

An inquiry by the social services regulator said that allowing Stewart to continue to work had the potential to “damage public confidence in the profession.”

The report concluded: “The matters that you have been convicted of and your behaviour when obstructing, hindering and then kicking a police officer demonstrate a loss of self control, aggressive

and violent behaviour and a failure to demonstrate the standard of conduct outside work which is expected of social service worker.

“If the behaviour were to be repeated members of the public could be placed at risk of harm.”