A BIOMEDICAL scientist at the Royal Bolton Hospital has been struck off after a tribunal heard how he groped two female colleagues and made sexual remarks towards them.

Married Oyewumi Aderibigbe became obsessed about a woman’s breasts after she returned to work following maternity leave, repeatedly pestering her about whether she had milk in them. He also made a grab for her chest and her backside.

A Health and Care Professions tribunal hearing heard how Aderibigwe, who worked for Bolton NHS Foundation Trust from November 2015, also sexually assaulted another woman as they fetched equipment from the hospital basement, grabbing her so she could not move and trying to lift her shirt up.

Aderibigwe denied the allegations against him, claiming they were lies, but a tribunal panel accepted the women’s evidence, found misconduct was proved and his fitness to practise was impaired and ordered that he be struck off immediately.

“Any lesser sanction would fail to reflect the nature and gravity of the misconduct, it would lack the necessary deterrent effect on the profession and would not provide the necessary protection for the public in its broadest sense,” stated the tribunal ruling.

It added that Aderibigwe’s behaviour “lacked professional integrity” and fellow professionals “would consider it to be "nothing short of deplorable”.

The tribunal heard how Aderibigwe and his female co-workers had always got on well but in February 2018 a woman, identified as Colleague A, complained to a supervisor about him.

She told the tribunal how Aderibigwe initially asked her if she was still breastfeeding but thought it was a “genuine, innocent question” as he and his wife were trying for a baby.

But she became more uncomfortable when he asked to visit her home to see her baby when her husband was not at home.

Then, on February 2, Aderibigwe told her he had “dreams of sucking on your boobs and milk coming out”. The woman said was was shocked and disgusted and walked away.

But three days later he summoned her and repeated his suggestion before groping her, touching her breasts, stomach and bottom as she tried to leave work for the day.

The woman, who was described as “obviously distraught” reported the incidents to Aderibigwe’s manager minutes later, saying she thought they had been friends and asking, “Why would he do that to me?”

An investigation was started by the Trust and a second woman came forward alleging Aderibigwe had touched her inappropriately while they were both working on Christmas Day 2017 and they had gone to the hospital basement to collect racks.

“As we were coming back up, he tried to grope my bottom,” she said, adding that when she ran up to the landing he ran after her and she tried to push him away.

The woman said Aderibigwe put his hands around her and her breasts so she could not move. She said: “I told him to stop and leave me alone. He replied, saying ‘please let me’ and tried to lift my shirt up.”

She added that, on a previous occasion, when she had accidentally knocked a trolley into Aderibigwe’s lower body, he had asked her, “are you going to rub it for me now?”

The tribunal was told that there had been no previous complaints about Aderibigwe and he had been regarded as a well respected member of staff.

Giving evidence to the tribunal over the phone Aderibigwe claimed the allegations against him were lies and the result of a conspiracy between the Trust and the women to get rid of him. But the tribunal panel did not believe him and criticised him for not showing any remorse.

Following the tribunal ruling a spokesman for Bolton NHS Foundation Trust said: “We take allegations such as these very seriously and took the appropriate action.”