South Gloucs social worker banned for posting obscene video

A social worker has been barred from the profession for posting an obscene video involving children on Instagram.

Rodrigue Ekwelle-Nkwelle, 43, was working for South Gloucestershire Council's children's services sector.

Social Work England (SWE) has removed him from its register, following a fitness-to-practise hearing.

Ekwelle-Nkwelle was given a suspended jail term at Bristol Crown Court in April 2021 for distributing an image in the most serious abuse category.

Now SWE's regulatory panel has ruled he committed serious misconduct that created a risk to the public.

During the court hearing, Ekwelle-Nkwelle pleaded guilty to the pornography charges, which also included possessing material that involved animals.

Along with the suspended sentence, a judge ordered him to complete 150 hours' unpaid work and 30 days' rehabilitation.

Ekwelle-Nkwelle, whose address at the time was given as Broad Street in Staple Hill, was also handed a sexual harm protection order and placed on the sex offenders register.

He had not attended the hearing, but said in February 2021 that the videos were "sent to him randomly and not by his request", the SWE panel's report into the case said.

"He said that when he had distributed the video it had been to decry some of the 'ill things' that were occurring in Africa and Cameroon in particular," it said.

"Mr Ekwelle-Nkwelle expressed his total shame of himself, the shame he had brought on his family and his profession."

The SWE panel had noted he failed to disclose a previous allegation of sexual misconduct in 2013, when he applied to employment agency HCL Workforce.

It also said he "had not explained the facts relating to the other conviction for possession of extreme pornography".

It led officials to conclude "the conduct underlying the convictions together with the dishonest misconduct was fundamentally incompatible with being registered as a social worker".

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