A paramedic from Sutton has been struck off the professional register for keeping cocaine and cannabis in a sock.

Simon Freisinger, 40, who left the London Ambulance Service after being caught last May, admitted to keeping the drugs for personal use.

The Health Professions Council (HPC) panel also suspended him from practice for 18 months for bringing the profession into disrepute.

Freisinger, initially convicted at Sutton Magistrates’ Court, failed to attend the conduct and competence hearing in Kennington, south London.

He passed on a signed statement to the panel on Friday, March 13, saying: “I know it is illegal to have these drugs and I have no legal excuse.”

Afterwards a HPC spokesman said: “The registrant admitted to having a small bag of cocaine in a bag inside his sock and some cannabis in a small bag.

“He stated the drugs were for his own personal use and he knew it was illegal to possess those drugs.

“In the light of the lack of engagement of the registrant in the regulatory process, his lack of insight and apparent lack of contrition for his actions, the panel concluded it would be insufficient to impose an order of suspension.”

As a result Freisinger was stuck off from the paramedics’ register, with the panel further denouncing his actions as “deliberate and reckless”.

Paul Archer, the HPC disciplinary panel chairman, said: “The panel finds that the registrant’s convictions breach the HPC standards of conduct, in particular a duty to maintain high standards of personal conduct and a duty to ensure behaviour does not damage the profession’s reputation.”

Freisinger was previously fined £100 by magistrates and ordered to pay £75 in costs.

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