A child psychiatrist could be struck off the medical register on Tuesday after accessing child pornography while working at an Oxford hospital.

Dr Julian Morrell, 41, of Banbury Road, Summertown, Oxford, has been charged with serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council (GMC) for looking at obscene websites on his home computer while employed at the Park Hospital for Children, in Headington.

Although the consultant claimed he had never behaved inappropriately with patients, NHS managers have invited former patients and their carers to call the Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare Trust's patient advice and liaison service if they are concerned.

Dr Morrell has admitted that during January 1999 and January 2000, while working at Park Hospital as a senior registrar and clinical lecturer in child and adolescent psychiatry, he deliberately accessed between two and four child pornography websites. A GMC professional conduct committee heard yesterday how he took up a new job in Berkshire in October 2001 but was suspended and later sacked after being arrested by Thames Valley Police as part of Operation Ore -- part of the international child pornography Internet probe.

Ian Stern, for the GMC, said that although Dr Morrell, a father-of-two, had admitted an interest in adult porn, he denied any "unhealthy" interest in child porn during an interview with his bosses. The committee was told he had been working at the time with the mother of a child who had suffered a history of abuse and had been investigating an area relevant to his work at the time.

Mr Stern said: "He said he had a misplaced professional interest in child pornography and he now realises how extremely foolish and misguided that had been."

In July last year, the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Dr Morrell because no pornography websites had been stored on his home or work computers. Anyone with concerns can call 0800 328 7971.