Doctor described as 'serious danger to children' struck off

Mark Carrington, who lives in Radlett and worked as an anaesthetist, lost his medical registration after he was jailed earlier this year.

Carrington was caught in a police sting after arranging to meet who he thought to be a young girl and her father.

The doctor, 49 at the time, contacted an undercover police officer on a fetish website on January 17, 2022, a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service report stated.

The officer had created a fictitious profile indicating he had two children and the conversation later moved to a messaging service.

Upon learning he had a seven-year-old daughter, Carrington proceeded to ask about her experience of sexual abuse, to which the undercover officer responded with an “explicit and graphic” account of abuse suffered.

The doctor replied: “OH WOW SOUNDS PERFECT”, the tribunal report said.

The report went on to say Carrington enquired about meeting up and gave “graphic” detail about how he wanted to abuse the girl.

Mark Carrington. Image: Hertfordshire Constabulary (Image: Hertfordshire Constabulary)

On January 27, Carrington met the undercover officer at a Costa Coffee in Finchley, north London. The report said Carrington explained how he could book a hotel to carry out the abuse. He also said he twice tried to meet another person to abuse a child.

The officer later left the coffee shop before two police officers entered and Carrington was arrested and his phone later seized, which was found to have seven indecent images of children on it.

Carrington later pleaded guilty to arranging/facilitating the commission of a child sexual offence and three counts of making an indecent photograph of a child.

Read more: Doctor jailed after arranging meeting to sexually abuse girl

Hertfordshire Constabulary’s Detective Sergeant Jim Miller described Carrington as a “serious danger to children” and he was jailed for 28 months at St Albans Crown Court on April 1.

He was also issued with a ten-year sexual harm prevention order, and must sign the sex offenders’ register for ten years.

Carrington was sentenced at St Albans Crown Court. Image: Google Street View

Carrington, who qualified as a doctor in 1998 and was suspended from his job as a consultant anaesthetist at London’s Royal Free Hospital upon his arrest, has now also been struck off the medical register, following a tribunal hearing between August 24 and 26.

General Medical Council representative Hugh Barton said all convictions for sexual offences were “grave”, but that Dr Carrington’s convictions were “particularly serious”.

The tribunal found Carrington’s conduct in seeking to sexually abuse a child on an ongoing basis “seriously and significantly damaged the public’s trust in the profession” and were of the view he had brought the medical profession into “disrepute”.

Mitigating circumstances including a prior “unblemished” medical career, guilty plea, remorse during interview, and that the victim was fictitious were considered by the tribunal.

However, it was concluded Carrington’s convictions were of “such a serious nature”, immediate erasure was the only “appropriate and proportionate” sanction in order to protect the public, maintain public confidence, and uphold proper professional standards and conduct.