Social worker removed from register after paying for sex
A social worker has been removed from the social care register for paying for the services of a sex worker.
Salas Kochuparampil Abraham received a verbal warning from a police officer on 15 March 2009 for engaging in sexual activity with a sex worker in his car in Hull.
Mr Abraham conceded that the events described by the police officer were true but the officer’s record showed that Mr Abraham had not been entirely accurate stating that he worked in adult social work when in fact he was employed in children and family work in Hull city council.
It also emerged that in January 2009, he visited Mrs A, the mother of two children in need who were at school, put his arm around her and viewed photos of her partially clothed on a laptop. Following the visit he sent a text message from his personal phone saying “Hi I am Salas just to let you know that I enjoyed the time we had this morning,” or words to that effect.
Mr Abraham contested that he had touched Mrs A’s face and touched her hair and said he had not called her “sexy and beautiful” whilst viewing the photographs but had said that she was “confident”. He also maintained that he had not asked to see the pictures but admitted that he had not asked her to stop showing them to him.
The committee found that Mr Abraham’s behaviour “clearly exploited” the vulnerability of the service user, Mrs A, who was a young woman with low self-esteem who had been a victim of domestic violence.
They believed the wording of the text message was a clear example of an attempt by Mr Abraham to establish an inappropriate personal relationship with a service user.
The committee also felt his admitted behaviour with a sex worker called into question his suitability to remain on the social care register.