Shropshire social worker receives warning for giving vulnerable teenager booze

A SOCIAL worker who plied a teenage girl with booze kept his job after bosses decided his motives were “not sexual”.

Jugraj Nahal, from Shropshire, worked for Telford and Wrekin Council’s Connexions 4 Youth service when he was handed the vulnerable youngster’s care.

He took her to two pubs where he bought alcoholic drinks for her despite knowing that she was under 18. On a third occasion he bought her alcohol from a shop.

He was given a three year warning order over his “inappropriate” behaviour, but was cleared of more serious charges of making sexual advances towards the teen.

At a hearing of the General Social Care Council (GSCC) in London Nahal was told he had breached “basic rules” for youth carers.

“We believe the appropriate sanction is an admonishment for a period of three years,” the panel chairman said.

“We note that these events did not occur within a social work setting.

“However, Mr Nahal was employed as a leader of a youth club and had responsibility to respect professional boundaries. His behaviour was a significant breach of those boundaries which calls into question his suitability to remain on the register.”

At the hearing Nahal, who stopped working for Telford and Wrekin council in January 2008, was also accused of inviting the teenager to his house with the intention of sharing a meal and a bath and then sleeping together.

But the panel cleared him of these charges, saying his motives were not sexual, and that the teen’s claims could not be verified.