Support worker who told young person 'you're still legal, darling' struck off

A support worker has been banned from the profession after telling a vulnerable young person “you’re still legal, darling”.

Mark Fail-Gibbon was employed by Spark of Genius as a support worker when he made comments to a young female in his care which were “sexual in nature and offensive about her body”.

In response to her singing a song with the words, “never had a b**** like me in your life”, Fail-Gibbon said, “I’m glad I’ve never had a b**** like you”.

She called Fail-Gibbon out and said “that’s really strange, I’m only [redacted]”.

Fail-Gibbon replied: “But you are still legal, aren’t you darling”, or words to that effect.

He also told the child that he would “sleep with 16-year-olds because it is legal”, said he would go to Germany to “s*** 14-year-olds because it’s legal there”, and told her to “get that fat a*** up the stairs”, or words to that effect.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) said Fail-Gibbon “abused [his] position of trust by acting with sexual motivation towards her”, and placed her at risk of “serious emotional and psychological harm”.

“You caused [the child] to feel uncomfortable and to question whether she was safe in her home,” the care watchdog told him.

In a previous role as a care support worker with Newcross Healthcare Solutions Limited, Fail-Gibbon was also accused of approaching a female colleague from behind while she was working and putting his arms around her without her consent.

“Your actions were sexually motivated and caused [the colleague] to feel uncomfortable,” the SSSC told him.

The Ombudsman said Fail-Gibbon’s “extremely serious behaviour” involves a pattern of “serious” breaches of professional boundaries” which falls “far short of what is acceptable”.

“We consider there is a high risk of the behaviour being repeated and, if it was, it would place colleagues and users of services at risk of serious harm,” the SSSC report said.

The watchdog said Fail-Gibbon’s behaviour is “wholly unacceptable and fundamentally incompatible” with continued registration with the SSSC.