Stephen Board, 66, (pictured) was handed 12 years in prison for abusing patients today
A hospital nurse who molested helpless female patients as they came round from serious surgery has been jailed for 12 years.
Stephen Board, 66, sexually assaulted two women in the recovery room as they woke from being under anaesthetic after major operations.
He groped a third elderly patient as she was undergoing cataract surgery on her eye.
Today Board, of Bognor, West Sussex, was branded a ‘pervert’ after being convicted of seven counts of sexual assault and one assault by penetration.
Sentencing him to 12 years at Hove Crown Court, Judge Christina said: ‘You gave in to the most perverted desires to sexually molest women no doubt enjoying the thrill and risk of possibly being caught.
‘These women were in the most vulnerable position imaginable, two having come from major surgery and one having had cataract surgery.
‘If she had reacted in any way she would have been blinded.’
The woman, who was 20 at the time, had undergone serious surgery and was coming round from a general anaesthetic in the recovery room of Worthing Hospital in West Sussex when she was assaulted.
Speaking in court, she said Board told her: ‘Don’t worry I’ll look after you’ before molesting her.
Paralysed by the anaesthetic, the patient said she was unable to fight him off as his hands fondled and groped her.
She told the jury: ‘I remember a male arm coming across my chest.
‘My gown was open at the back and the hand went under my gown onto my left breast.’
He then asked her: ‘Is it okay if i do this to you?’ but she was unable to respond.
Board (pictured) groped two women as they came round from anaesthetic and another while she was on the operating table
The patient said the nurse groped her breast and rubbed her nipple under her hospital gown.
She continued: ‘I tried to get the arm off but all I could mange to do was move my left arm.’
The woman said she remembered Board moving so he could access her legs under a blanket.
She said: ‘He came down the side of my bed. I had a blanket over me.
‘I remember the blanket being lifted up and the hand going towards my genitals.
‘He put his hand on my genitals and was rubbing them.’
She said the sexual assault continued when Board placed her left hand onto his groin area.
She said: ‘Steve standing to my left and my arms through the hospital bed barrier and he put my left hand onto his groin area.’
The alleged victim said he was aroused and moved himself back and forth against her hand which she was unable to move.
The assaults on the 20, 34 and 78-year-old took place between October 2006 and 2015.
Police quizzed him after two attacks in 2006 and 2008, but he was allowed to carry on working.
He was handed 12 years by a judge at Hove Crown Court (pictured) and branded a ‘pervert’ today
The woman said she suffered persistent pain in her left side before having surgery.
She said she was given a sedative that made her feel sleepy before the procedure and was also introduced to Board.
The second patient fell victim to Board in February 2008 after she was admitted to the same hospital.
Suffering from an infection after an operation to remove an ovary, the patient underwent surgery, but as she came round, someone was rubbing her right breast.
Hugh Forgan, prosecuting, said she was able to grab her hospital gown and tell Board she did not like it.
She also reported the incident to hospital bosses and police once again responded and interviewed the nurse.
The third patient was attacked at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester while she was on the operating table.
The woman was conscious and undergoing eye surgery when Board put his hand under the covers and groped her breast.
She told the court: ‘I started hyperventilating because I knew that there was something wrong.
‘It was torture because I could not communicate with the surgeon.
‘I was so scared, I just felt trapped. I wanted to scream out but I couldn’t.’