Camden and Islington mental health worker stuck off after hearing

A mental health nurse has been caught trying to steal a tambourine and maracas from HMP Pentontville.

Amos Moijueh’s put the musical instruments in his backpack, but was found out when a colleague shook the bag and heard them rattle.

Mr Moijueh was branded “dishonest” and struck off by a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) committee in a hearing held from February 17 to 20.

He said he thought staff could “help themselves” to the therapeutic instruments.

But his name was ordered to be erased from the NMC’s professional register, and the committee said there is “no way back” for him.

A colleague said she had watched Mr Moijueh put the therapeutic instruments in his bag. When the centre manager came looking for them, she directed her to his rucksack.

She said: “I told her to look in Amos’s black rucksack. She said she couldn’t do that, so I told her to give it a shake. She did, and we could hear the tambourine inside.”

The manager said she was “shocked” to hear a maraca in Mr Moijueh’s bag.

When she confronted Mr Moijeuh, he “had a smile on his face” and said he’d believed staff could “help themselves” to the instruments. He said he “wanted to bring them to his church”.

She added: “I definitely did not say that any of the staff could have the instruments.”

Mr Moijueh denied the allegations, saying he only put the items “on top” of his rucksack and insisting the claims were sparked by his manager’s “anger” that he’d played with them during a staff meeting.

He said his church “does not use musical instruments” and he’d not attempted to take them.

However, the conduct committee chair said: “You had a dishonest intent, which undermined the principles of honesty and integrity as the bedrock of the nursing profession. That dishonesty was sustained by your denial of the charges.”

She added: “The panel therefore concluded that the only proportionate sanction in this case is a striking off order.”

The order will be delayed for up to 18 months so that he can appeal the decision. He will remain suspended from the profession during that period.