A NURSE who performed a sex act on a coach while looking at a female passenger has been suspended from work while he is investigated.

Denson Thomas received a police caution in August 2007 after he was caught on a coach from Heathrow to Oxford with his hands down his trousers.

The nurse, who worked on the renal ward at the Churchill Hospital, received a further caution in February last year after admitting assaulting a child causing actual bodily harm, a panel at the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) was told. He admitted hitting the child across the back with a mobile phone charger.

The NMC yesterday found Thomas’s actions brought the reputation of the profession into disrepute and that his fitness to practice was impaired.

But he was allowed to continue working with a three-year professional caution.

Panel chairman Ian Luder said: “The panel notes that there is no evidence that your actions caused or had the potential to cause any harm to patients. You have acknowledged your deficiency and you have gone a considerable way to remedy you actions.”

Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) Trust last night confirmed it had suspended Thomas while it conducted its own investigation.

Chief nurse Elaine Strachan-Hall said: “As a result of information disclosed at yesterday’s NMC hearing, the trust has suspended Nurse Thomas while a further investigation is conducted.”