Therapist preyed on anorexic teenagers in his care

- 22 February 2005;Used with kind permission of the Evening Standard

THERAPIST PREYED ON ANOREXIC TEENAGERS IN HIS CARE

A senior nurse at an NHS clinic sexually abused vulnerable women left in his care

David Britten targeted patients – some of them teenagers – while they were treated for anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders.

Health chiefs admitted today that although eight victims have come forward, he may have preyed on many more patients since the Eighties.

Britten selected and groomed the women while he was supposed to be in charge of them at a clinic in Pimlico.

The 52 year-old’s reign of abuse saw him undertake private psychotherapy sessions with patients – despite being unqualified – building up their confidence and then having sex with them.

He formed relationships with them, often seeing several at a time but kept each hidden from the others and his wife.

Britten even interfered with his victims’ treatment, taking them out for dinner and lowering the target weight of one, saying “he liked slim girls”.

But while he was manipulating the women – aged between 17 and 22 – with his victims believing he was holding back their recovery, he also lied to them telling them he was dying from cancer. One of his victims, now 33, was only four and a half stone when she was admitted to the clinic. Britten singled her out for special treatment and they soon began meeting secretly.

The relationship became sexual and they continued seeing each other when she left the clinic. Almost 10 years in what she calls a “pseudo-relationship” with him, she was devastated when she realised the extent of his deception. The victim who does not want to be named, said: “It wasn’t a relationship, it was abuse. I felt betrayed by him but also by the system. I think I would have been a completely different person if I hadn’t met him. I would be married with children but that has been taken away.”

The mental health trust that ran the clinic suspended Britten, of Laughton, East Sussex and he resigned before he could be sacked after eight women came forward to complain. He was struck off the Nursing and Midwifery Register last year.

But trust bosses said today it was later found that some of the abuse dated back 10 year and dozens of women may have been duped by Britten since 1980 when he began work as a mental health nurse.

Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Central and North West London Mental Health NHS Trust which ran the clinic, told the Standard he fears dozens of women have been abused by Britten.

“We know of eight women, with one case going back 10 years. It probably goes back to the late Eighties or further so logic suggests there must be more” he said “It is absolutely dreadful. We acted as soon as we knew about it”.

The clinic was closed and reopened as the Vincent Square clinic with new staff and a more stringent complaint procedure.

But four of Britten’s victims are set to launch a legal case against the trust as they feel they were not protected from him. They also say their complaints were not dealt with properly as it took two years before an investigation was started.

Solicitor Sarah Harman, who specialises in women’s health cases, said “I am amazed at the boldness with which Britten groomed his victims right under the noses of staff who should have intervened”.