Nurse sacked for mocking black colleagues by attaching a golliwog to her uniform and making monkey noises was then 'hired by council to draft race-relations policy'

Susan Horton and a colleague struck off for campaign of racist abuse

Horton branded junior nurse a 'gorilla' while running hospital ward



Made joke about 'saving the bananas' for doctor she called 'scary Mary'

Referred to black colleagues as 'n*****s' and said 'they look like apes'



After sacking she became Wellingborough Council community safety officer



She wrote policy paper on race hate and delivered seminar to 300 employees

Fellow nurse Sarah Cullum referred to one ward as 'The United Nations'



Cullum said it was because 'there is not a single white face'

Pair found guilty of more than 60 offences between 2006 and 2007

A nurse who pinned a golliwog doll to her uniform to mock black colleagues went on to draft a council’s policy on race relations, a hearing was told.

Susan Horton branded a junior nurse a ‘gorilla’, joked about feeding them bananas and made monkey noises while discussing a black doctor.

She was sacked along with her colleague Sarah Cullum when their two-year reign of terror at St Mary’s Hospital in Kettering, Northamptonshire, was exposed.

Guilty: Nurse Susan Horton (left) clipped a golliwog doll (right, file picture) to her uniform as she made a series of racist remarks about her black colleagues, a misconduct hearing was told



But in a bizarre twist, a Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing was told yesterday that after she was fired by the NHS in 2007, Horton was hired by Wellingborough Council as a community safety officer.

‘During her time at the council, Susan wrote a policy on race hate and delivered a talk on that to 300 employees at the council,’ said John Lynch, representing Horton.

'Terrible behaviour': Horton's colleague Sarah Cullum (pictured) was also found guilty after the hearing was told she referred to one ward as the 'United Nations' because 'they are all black'

Last night Horton and Cullum were kicked out of the nursing profession after being found guilty of more than 60 charges.

Richard Williams, of the NMC, said: ‘There was physical abuse of patients and use of inappropriate language when referring to patients both in front of them and behind their backs.’

The tribunal was told Horton and Cullum acted in ‘partnership’ to racially abuse staff at all levels, including senior doctors.

They were also responsible for physically abusing some patients, including a 70-year-old man who was hit and kicked by Horton.

Both nurses shouted at another patient, said he smelled of urine and asked if he was gay and if he liked sharing a room with men. Healthcare assistant Sandy Smith said Horton and Cullum swapped racist remarks when they met for shift handovers.

She said Horton’s golliwog was on her uniform ‘so it was always accessible’ and that she often pointed at it and then at black nurses.

Horton made monkey noises while discussing a black doctor, referred to her as ‘scary Mary’ and said she ‘shouldn’t be allowed to breed’.

She also joked about ‘saving the bananas for Mary’.

Both nurses commented that two nurses from Guyana were ‘jabbering away in their gobbledegook’ as they spoke in their native language.

Kicked out: The two nurses have been struck off after waging a campaign of racist abuse on their ward at St Mary's Hospital in Kettering (pictured) The tribunal panel was told Horton did monkey impressions while discussing a black doctor and referred to black colleagues as ‘n*****s’ that ‘look like apes’. Giving evidence, Horton had strenuously denied making racist comments and described the golliwog doll she wore as ‘lovely’. Cullum’s lawyer, Sarah Christie-Brown, said she was ‘sucked in’ by behaviour on the ward which had become a ‘way of life’. A spokesman for Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘This behaviour discredits professional nursing and we know they do not reflect the views of other nurses in the trust.’