A HOSPITAL worker has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for the rape and sexual assault of a patient.

Sidharth Nair, 28, of no fixed address, attacked the woman in her bed at Whiston Hospital on the evening of January 30 this year.

He was arrested and charged by police following the horrific incident.

The victim was an inpatient in the hospital at the time of the attack, with Nair one of the healthcare workers helping with her care.

Nair pleaded guilty to rape and four counts of sexual assault and was sentenced this week at Liverpool Crown Court.

Shocking incident

In a statement, Detective Inspector Yoseph Al-Ramadhan said: “This was a shocking incident which has had a devastating impact on Nair’s victim and her family.

“She has clearly been through an extremely traumatic time and we hope that today's sentence brings her some sense of justice as she continues to recover.

“Thankfully we were able to detain and arrest Nair very quickly and ensure he will now spend a considerable period of time behind bars and I hope that knowing this will finally allow his victim to start to move on with her life.

"I would like to thank Whiston Hospital for their support throughout this investigation."

Whiston HospitalWhiston Hospital

DI Al-Ramadhan added: “I would encourage anyone who has been a victim of a sexual offence or is concerned for the safety of someone they know to come forward and speak to us.

"Please be assured that we have a team of dedicated staff who will expertly and compassionately deal with your reports and we will do everything we can to bring offenders to justice.

“We take all such reports extremely seriously, and work with partner organisations such as Victim care Support Service and RASA who are there to support victims every step of the way.

How to find support

You can report rape, sexual assault and other sexual offences anonymously here:

There support available from specialist officers within Merseyside Police and through the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Victim Care Merseyside service delivered jointly by two registered charities.

In St Helens and Knowsley support is offered by the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre (RASASC) Cheshire and Merseyside who can be contacted on 01925 221 546 or 0330 363 0063.