Sex offender: Andrew Hutchinson, 29, pleaded guilty to 27 counts of rape and voyeurism when he appeared at Oxford Crown Court this morning

A senior nurse who filmed himself raping unconscious patients in an A&E ward is facing a lengthy jail sentence after admitting a string of offences on victims as young as ten.

Andrew Hutchinson, 29, abused women under general anaesthetic as they lay in hospital beds behind curtains at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

The nurse even stole a medical camera from the hospital so he could film up a woman’s skirt as she stood by her sick friend’s bedside.

Away from the hospital, Hutchinson volunteered as a paramedic at the trendy Wilderness festival in Oxfordshire where he groped two young women who had passed out in the medical tent.

He also used the medical camera – which is routinely used by doctors to examine the internal organs of patients – to film girls as young as ten getting changed at his local leisure centre.

The nurse was eventually caught by police after two girls at the White Horse Leisure Centre in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, saw him lurking near the women’s changing rooms and raised the alarm.

Hutchinson was arrested in November 2013 by police officers outside the leisure centre.

Detectives found footage of his attacks on his mobile phone, computer, a memory stick and a camera. They also found 1,786 indecent images of children on his computer and phone.

When officers contacted his victims, none had any idea that she had been sexually abused because they were either unconscious, anaesthetised or being secretly filmed.

Hutchinson appeared at Oxford Crown Court yesterday where he pleaded guilty to all 28 charges put to him.

He admitted two counts of rape, four counts of sexual assault, one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity, 12 counts of voyeurism, five counts of making indecent images of children, one count of outraging public decency, two counts of theft and one count of possession of a Class B drug.

The court heard that police had identified ten victims – females aged from ten to 35.

Police have been unable to trace one of the victims who was attacked at the hospital and they have been unable to establish the identities of a further 18 victims who were filmed by Hutchinson at the leisure centre.

Caught on camera: This CCTV image shows Hutchinson, top, in the leisure centre where he was found to be spying on women

His rape victims were an 18-year-old woman attacked in October 2011 and a 35-year-old woman abused in February 2012. Both were under general anaesthetic at the time in the A&E department.

Hutchinson, who had a girlfriend, became a nurse on the A&E wing of John Radcliffe Hospital in 2006.

At some point he was promoted to the rank of senior nurse which meant he was trusted to treat patients on his own.

The court was told he had no previous convictions and was thought to be a reliable and diligent member of staff. His barrister Claire Fraser said her client had described his behaviour as an ‘addiction he has had over a number of years’.

Crime scene: Hutchinson raped two women as they lay unconscious in the A&E department he worked in at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford (pictured)

Caught: The nurse was found to be filming victims at the White Horse Leisure Centre in Abingdon, which led to police discovering his other crime

Judge Zoe Smith remanded him into custody and adjourned sentencing until April 27. She ordered a senior probation officer to prepare a report on Hutchinson to enable her to assess his level of danger to the public.

Theft: The nurse stole this Nasopharyngoscope - used for inernal examinations - and used it to film up a woman's skirt as she visited a friend in hospital

Outside court, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Johns from Thames Valley Police said: ‘I am pleased that Hutchinson has pleaded guilty to his offences and spared his victims having to endure a trial to receive justice. This has been a complicated and unusual case as the victims of his sex offences were not aware that offences took place because they were not conscious.

‘The victims showed great courage when informed of such distressing news. I have no doubt that Hutchinson would have continued to offend had he not been arrested.’

Mark Power, of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, added: ‘We have been shocked and horrified by the behaviour of the individual, who so badly let down both the patients he was entrusted to care for and his fellow colleagues and who totally failed in his professional duties and responsibilities as a nurse.

‘I would wish to reassure members of the public that the welfare and safety of our patients is always our first priority.’

Mr Power added: ‘Thames Valley Police has been conducting an extensive investigation and we have done everything possible to support this process.