Former Glasgow City Council worker faces being struck off over obscene emails

A SOCIAL worker faces being struck off after admitting sending sexually explicit emails to female colleagues. Derek Cullen, 57, was axed from his post at Glasgow City Council last year after almost 40 years when bosses discovered his behaviour.

He admitted sending the inappropriate emails to three female co-workers and one of his male colleagues at a hearing of the Scottish Social Services Council.

But when confronted over the emails, he brushed them off as “office banter.”

The exact nature of the messages are believed to have been too offensive to disclose in public at the hearing.

But giving evidence, social work official Jacqueline Torrance – boss of residential and day care services at Glasgow City Council – insisted she had no choice but to suspend Cullen.

And she told the panel she believed he should have known better given his training.

She said: “This was a very serious decision. His conduct with female colleagues and the use of sexualised emails was highly inappropriate in a work context.

“When he was asked if there was any reason he’d sent them, he said if he was aware members of staff had been adversely affected, he would have stopped it.

“He has received training in adult and child protection. He should know that people who are subject to abuse do not always speak out about it.”

During the hearing in Dundee last week, Cullen’s lawyer Alistair Forsyth said the emails were “obviously discriminatory.” And the sub-committee chairman Kevin Culloch told Cullen: “You were abusive towards your colleagues.

“This continued despite the fact they indicated they were not comfortable with the content of the emails.

“As an experienced social worker, you should have been aware the content of the emails may upset or harm your colleagues.

“By sending the emails, you displayed a lack of respect for your colleagues.”

Cullen – who claimed he was under strain due to a relationship break down when the emails were sent between March and August 2009 – also admitted delaying essential reviews into the care of highly vulnerable service users.

And he continued to provide assistance to a member of the public who did not receive social work services from Glasgow City Council – despite receiving a final written warning not to do so in 2005.

At the time, he was employed by the local authority’s older persons and physical disabilities team. Based in the Castlemilk area, he was in charge of care plans for some of the city’s most needy elderly people.

Cullen later told the hearing: “I accept totally my responsibility for them (the emails). I’m upset about the distress I have caused to my colleagues.”

Cullen will learn his fate later this year when the hearing reconvenes.