A SOCIAL worker who has been struck off over sickening child abuse images found on his work computer was suspended 15 years ago – after confessing on TV to a passion for orgies.

John Wymark-Hoar, of Victoria Road, Malton, was making crucial decisions on whether children should be placed on the at-risk register when he was suspended by North Yorkshire County Council in 1997 over his comments on a BBC Two fly-on-the-wall documentary.

The Press reported at the time how, in a Modern Times documentary, Shampoo, he was one of several relaxed customers who sat back and spilled out their secrets to their hairdressers – while being filmed through a two-way mirror.

In three separate clips, Wymark-Hoar confessed frankly to a passion for group sex, oral sex and naturist hill walking.

The authority said at the time it expected the “highest possible conduct from all its employees” but was tight-lipped about what action it subsequently took against him following the suspension, saying then: “This is a personnel matter which is being treated confidentially.”

But a spokeswoman said that Wymark-Hoar had ceased working for the county council when the matters first came to light.

The Press reported earlier this month how the General Social Care Council (GSCC) had been told that a colleague had complained about Wymark-Hoar after finding vile video footage on his office computer while working for the charity Crime Reduction Initiative in Leeds.

The council heard he had downloaded “disturbing” photos, cartoons and videos, and among the stash were images of sadism, bestiality and child abuse ranked at the highest level of severity.

Panel chairwoman Susan Riddle said his behaviour was so serious that the only appropriate sanction was to remove him from the register.