NHS worker's smile hid sickening desires which made colleagues' 'skin crawl'

Daily Mirror

13 hours ago

Tracy Turner and her husband Stuart Compton pleaded guilty after they schemed to carry out horrific attacks on children, one of whom they said they wanted to 'dispose' of
A seemingly friendly NHS worker's smile hid her evil twisted desires with apparently innocent comments about colleague's children taking on a sinister new meaning.
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Tracy Turner, 52, a long-serving operating theatre assistant at Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales, and her husband Stuart Compton, 46, were jailed recently for plotting to rape children as well as for hoarding sickening images of children being abused.
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They exchanged messages with one another about vile plans to bring a young girl to a shed where she would be raped before they "disposed" of her. During sentencing, Turner's barrister said she had worked for the NHS for 33 years "without blemish."
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Her colleagues were left reeling when her disgusting fantasies came to light and were unable to reconcile their memories about the "friendly, hardworking and knowledgeable" hospital worker with the monster who plotted unspeakably evil schemes. One recalled: "She was just normal.
"She was not very educated and she was very, very loud and confident, but she was well-liked. She knew her job as a theatre assistant and would help others."
Colleagues said they did notice a change in Turner about a year before the horrifying news came to light, WalesOnline reports. "She went from being on it, very efficient and good at training other people up, to the complete opposite.
"She would disappear from the theatre for ages and then randomly reappear an hour later. She'd come back and say, 'I've been on the phone to Stuart, he's been driving me crazy.' She'd often use that as an excuse for disappearing, and not for the odd 10 minutes but for an hour or more."
The court heard Turner had been taking cocaine every day after Compton introduced her to the Class A drug. She also became a heavy drinker.
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"Instead of her doing it, some of the newer members of staff ended up having to train recruits. They were doing the job better than she was. It was a massive change."
One NHS source said a few of the operating theatre staff had been friends with Turner on social media and now look back at their online interactions with revulsion. "She would comment on pictures of their kids, nothing inappropriate, just as friends or family would," one said. "Of course now it makes their skin crawl."
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They were unsettled looking back on the Facebook comments and the fact she worked at the NHS while some paediatric surgery took place in main theatres. "It's terrifying to think she could have had access to these children when they were anaesthetised," said one. "Everything crosses your mind."
Her duties included stocking and cleaning theatres as well as helping patients with positioning during operations. She had been considered to be highly competent throughout the majority of her career and had taken a course to become a band three senior theatre assistant.
One former colleague said: "I was absolutely disgusted and shocked [to learn of her crimes]. She was friendly, hardworking and knowledgeable. I'd never expect this from her." Turner and Compton began discussing raping a girl in 2022.
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They plotted to take her to a nearby woodland and cemetery before raping her. Both admitted to finding pleasure from the sickening thought. Prosecutor Matthew Cobbe said: "They both recognised the brutality of the sexual acts that they discussed, they recognised that they would need to take steps to ensure [the child] could not cry out or scream as she was being abused."
They also discussed abusing a boy and discussed Turner having intercourse with the boy. After police learned Compton adopted different identities to distribute indecent images on WhatsApp to paedophiles.
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Compton, of Daniel Street, Cathays, pleaded guilty to six counts of arranging a child sex offence, three of making indecent images, and three of distributing indecent images.
Turner, of Ninian Road, Roath, pleaded guilty to six counts of arranging a child sex offence and two of making indecent images. Myrthyr Tydfil Crown Court also heard how both had been of previous good character.
Compton was initially sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of seven years. Turner, who cried during the hearing, was initially sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment with an extended licence period of two years.
Turner's sentence was later cut to 10 years in jail with two on extended licence, with Compton retaining a life sentence but with the tariff being increased to eight years and 11 months.