Disgraced Isle of Wight paramedic Andrew Martindale has been given a community order after pleading guilty to possession of indecent images of children.
The 59-year-old, of Fairlee Road in Newport, first appeared in the Magistrates Court in September last year charged with a number of child sex offences. The matters were deemed too serious to be dealt with by Magistrates so the case was sent to the Crown Court, however, all charges other than the indecent images have since been dropped.
Now, following an appearance in the Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday), the medical professional has been sentenced – but has escaped going to prison. At an earlier hearing, on 14th June, he admitted to making 3 Category C indecent images of children over a 3-year period between 2015 and 2018.
The images were found on his mobile phone and laptop when Police raided his house and seized a number of electrical items.
Until his arrest, Andrew Liam Joseph Martindale was a respected member of the Isle of Wight Ambulance Service (IOWAS) and received his 20-year long service and good conduct medal back in 2017. He first joined the service in June 1994 but it has been confirmed he left IOWAS in 2018. Andy was also a Unison branch secretary for a time.
Martindale has been made subject to an interim suspension from practising as a paramedic by the Health & Care Professions Tribunal Service, but he has not yet been struck off.
Recorder Paul Garlick handed Martindale a 2-year community order with 30 rehabilitation days attached. He also ordered him to comply with a 5-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and to pay £1,000 costs with an £85 surcharge.
It’s the third time that an Isle of Wight paramedic has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons in recent years. In 2019, Tim Ross was convicted of 3 counts of making indecent images and was eventually struck off the medical register. In 2015, Stuart Hamilton was struck off following allegations of sexually motivated actions against girls as young as 12 – although no criminal charges were ever laid against him.
A spokesperson for the Isle of Wight NHS Trust has said:
“Mr Martindale left our employment in 2018 and the offences for which he has been sentenced do not relate in any way to the patient care we provide”.
I really don’t understand. Why wasn’t he sent to prison??!! Surely anyone with indecent images of children no matter whether they are cat ABC or bloody Z, should be immediately sent to prison! We are talking about the most precious humans on this planet! Something is really wrong here!!!
Because of his job protect the NHS remember
Absolutely spot on. Had it been anyone else, they’d get nicked.
When they say children, I see that word and I think they mean children, little kids, but they class young adults as children nowadays so it’s confusing. when they don’t specify the actual age of the child. I don’t think of someone two days off their 18th birthday for example, as a child, and I doubt they think of themselves as such either, but they are classed as such and if some of the social reforming people have their way people will be classed as children until they are 25 years old! Children should mean children.
He’s a Mason, lenient sentence.