Social worker struck off over sexual conduct

A FORMER Blaenau Gwent social worker has been struck off after forming a sexual relationship with a service user over 15 years.

David Graham Bowen was removed from the Register of Social Care Workers meaning he will no longer be able to practice as a social worker in the UK.

This was after he was found guilty of misconduct by a Care Council for Wales conduct committee in Cardiff.

Bowen was a registered social worker and was employed by Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council.

It was alleged he had carried out the relationship with a Gwent service user between about 1993 and 2008 whilst registered as a social worker.

During this time, he was found to have had a sexual relationship with the service user and took intimate photographs of her.

He was also found to have sent text messages to her mobile phone.

One text sent in May 2008 included the line “All I ever did was fall in love with u.”

Bowen was also found to have failed to tell his employers about occasions when she told him she felt suicidal, that he was communicating with her by phone and text and that he was visiting her.

The committee found he had breached 13 clauses in the Code of Practice for Social Care Workers.

The conduct committee chairman, Hugh Knight, said the proven facts of a long-standing, inappropriate sexual relationship with a vulnerable service user amounted to very serious misconduct.

A council spokesman said David Bowen worked in adult social care from April 1996 until he left of his own accord in August 2008, adding: “The council instigated the Care Council for Wales investigation and disciplinary hearing. We fully support the disciplinary decision.”