A NURSE who assaulted three vulnerable patients in his care, including a 98-year-old woman, has been struck off.

Stephen McMahon grabbed the elderly woman and twisted her arm while a staff nurse at Torbrae Care Home in Glasgow's Castlemilk, a facility which cares for people suffering from dementia.

The nurse was also convicted of grabbing and twisting the arm of an elderly male resident and applying excessive pressure to the body of another, following a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

The assaults took place between August 2009 and May 2010.

Mr McMahon was found guilty in May last year and fined £600.

And now regulatory body the Nursing and Midwifery Council has taken the decision that the nurse should also be struck off for the "wholly unacceptable" offences, after a hearing in Edinburgh.

A judgment states: "The panel was of the view that Mr McMahon's actions have damaged public confidence in the nursing profession.

"Such behaviour is wholly unacceptable."

It adds: "There was evidence of direct patient harm.

"The residents concerned were elderly and vulnerable.

"Indeed one resident, at the time of the incidents, was 98-years-old.

"Mr McMahon's conduct brought the nursing profession into disrepute."

The hearing, which was not attended by Mr McMahon, was told the nurse has continued to deny that he assaulted the residents and has never apologised.

It heard that on December 27, last year, he wrote a letter to the NMC in which he stated: "I believe that it is still clear that I was only removing residents from a place of high risk to a place of lower risk, even if my methods were inappropriate and excessive in execution."

After hearing all the evidence, the panel found Mr McMahon's fitness to practise had been impaired.

It stated: "The panel does not consider that the behaviour of Mr McMahon could be reconciled with that of a practising member of the nursing profession.

"In all the circum-stances a suspension order was not the appropriate, sufficient or proportionate sanction in this case.

"The panel therefore concluded that the only sanction which would protect the public was that of a striking off order.

"Mr McMahon's criminal convictions involved violent cond-uct towards three vulnerable and elderly residents and repres-ented a significant and serious departure from the standards expected of a registered nurse."

Mr McMahon's name will now be struck from the nursing register.

A spokesman for Torbrae Care Home said: "The matters discussed at the NMC hearing date back several years and took place under the home's previous ownership.

"However, we are pleased that the NMC has sent out a clear message that this type of behaviour is totally unacceptable."

linzi.watson@ eveningtimes.co.uk