Paul Grayson: Disgraced Sheffield voyeur nurse 'betrayed every ounce of trust' with 'evil actions'

Paul Grayson was jailed for 12 years today (May 10) after being stripped of his title for perpetrating a raft of sickening offences between 2017 and 2020.

The charge nurse with 25 years experience targeted patients as they recovered from surgery at Sheffield’s Royal Hallamshire Hospital – one of whom has never been identified from the footage.

READ MORE: Sheffield nurse who filmed unconscious patients at Royal Hallamshire Hospital jailed for 12 years

Sheffield Crown Court heard how Grayson also pleaded guilty to filming five nurses using a toilet at the hospital, and also videoed two other young women who were not connected to the hospital using hidden cameras.

Sentencing Grayson on Tuesday, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC said: “You have betrayed every ounce of trust reposed in you.

“You have already been stripped of your status as a nurse by your professional body. So you should be.

“You have brought shame on an honourable professional by your egregious criminal conduct.”

It comes after Grayson’s victims faced him in court to see him admit 14 charges of voyeurism, three sexual assaults, one charge of upskirting, one of taking indecent images of a child, one of installing recording equipment for the purposes of sexual gratification and three of possessing indecent images of children.

One victim, who was secretly filmed in the shower by Grayson over a number of years, confronted him directly in court as she told him his “sick and disgusting perversions” and “evil actions” were crimes that “have torn me into pieces”.

It was this woman’s suspicions that led her to conduct her own investigation which uncovered a stash of computer files, “curated” into folders.

Some of the videos were edited so they would move in slow motion at certain moments.

The court heard that one victim was unconscious after an eye operation when Grayson filmed her up her gown, and could be seen moving her underwear, elevating his perversions to an act of sexual assault.

The woman told police she had “put her trust in staff at the hospital to keep her safe”.

The victim said that she has since been due to have an operation at another hospital but she “can’t bring myself to go”.

Prosecutors said one nurse who was filmed in the toilet at the hospital said she had been left “mortified, embarrassed and humiliated”.

Recordings from the hidden camera in the staff toilet had captured Grayson installing it, clearly showing his name on his NHS badge and embroidered into his scrubs.

In addition to the recordings taken in the hospital between 2017 and 2020, there were a number of inappropriate images and videos of two teenage girls unrelated to Grayson's workplace.

Further, Judge Richardson said there is a risk to the public of Grayson committing similar offending, remaking that his crimes were “predatory” and considered him a dangerous offender.

The 51-year-old reportedly “expressed remorse” when arrested.

When Grayson is eventually released, he will also serve an extended license period of four years.

He will be required to serve two thirds of the sentence before going before the parole board, and will be the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order. He will never be allowed to work as a nurse or in a healthcare profession again.

The court heard how the hospital-based offences took place between 2017 and 2020 but there was evidence the defendant had been filming women as long ago as 2012.

Professor Chris Morley, chief nurse at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said the organisation would take measures to ensure similar offending would never happen again.

He said: “What Paul Grayson did was truly despicable and the fact that he deliberately abused the trust he was given as a nurse and work colleague is unforgivable.

“We have worked tirelessly with the police on the investigation and whilst today’s sentence will not make what happened any less distressing for those women he abused, I hope it goes some way to deliver justice on their behalf.

“Whilst this was an incredibly rare occurrence, we never want it to happen to anyone else and as a result we are examining all of the information now available to determine if there are any further measures we can take to limit the opportunity for someone to do this in the future.”

Kay Sadler, senior prosecutor from the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit at the CPS, said: “Grayson’s actions are deplorable and disturbing - he is now facing a lengthy prison sentence.

“He betrayed the trust of sedated patients where instead of caring for them, he took complete advantage of their vulnerability for his sexual gratification.

“He also betrayed the trust of his female colleagues by concealing a camera in the staff lavatory to video them.

“Our thoughts remain with all of his victims.”

Officer in the case Detective Sergeant Sarah Dolby of South Yorkshire Police said: “

The patients in this case were in perhaps the most vulnerable position they would ever find themselves in, as they recovered in hospital from a general anaesthetic. Grayson was in a position of trust and instead of taking care of these four women and keeping them safe, he committed these utterly horrendous acts.

"In interview, Grayson admitted having an insatiable addiction to voyeurism and pornography. I have no doubt that had he not been caught, his offending would have continued."