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A pharmacist who sent sexually explicit messages to colleagues on social media in the face of a “clear lack of consent” has been struck off the register.

Goncalo De Melo Rodrigues was convicted on July 31, 2025 on three counts of causing another to look at a sexual image without their consent.

Mr Rodrigues had worked as a locum pharmacist at a Boots branch in West Scotland. Three colleagues told the General Pharmaceutical Council’s fitness to practise committee he had sent them explicit images in incidents that began in May 2023.

One woman, referred to in the proceedings as Colleague A, said Mr Rodrigues had sent her a video of a “woman having an orgasm”. Her manager said she was “visibly upset” and described her as saying she “did not want to work with him” after the incident.

Colleague B told a store manager in August 2023 that she had met Mr Rodrigues on Facebook, after which he “began to send her pictures of himself that became increasingly inappropriate, culminating in him sending her photos of his penis”.

Colleague C gave a written account stating that Mr Rodrigues has messaged her with compliments “despite her making it clear she was married”. The messages became “increasingly personal” until he began sending her “sexually explicit comments” about having sex with her in the workplace.

On one occasion, Mr Rodrigues sent Colleague C a disappearing message and encouraged her to open it. She was confronted with “a picture of his erect penis,” which made her feel “sick and violated”.

Concerns were first raised with the GPhC by a Boots superintendent pharmacist in October 2023.

The local area manager had previously made contact with Mr Rodrigues, who denied any wrongdoing.

He was arrested on November 11, 2023 and convicted in 2025. He received a concurrent Community Payback Order, supervised over six months.

Mr Rodrigues did not attend the remote videolink hearing and did not engage with the FtP proceedings after sending an email in February 2026 in which he said he now lives outside the UK and stated: “I’ve dealt with a well over-exaggerated penalty for something I’m not to blame for.

“This is pure harassment and excuses to hide racism.”

It was submitted by lawyers for the GPhC that he has “no insight” and views himself as the victim.

The FtP committee found that his offences “caused harm to all three colleagues,” citing evidence from Colleague C who spoke of feeling violated and traumatised, and said she “has subsequently experienced recurring sexual assault dreams” as a result of Mr Rodrigues’ behaviour.

The committee also noted that colleagues felt uncomfortable around him in the workplace which would “cause a lack of focus on patients that could thereby cause them harm,” and that one of his victims was only 19 years old – indicative of a power imbalance in the working relationship.

“The behaviour was repeated and was persistent in the face of a clear lack of consent and was repeated with multiple colleagues over a significant time period,” said the FtP committee, which said it had seen no evidence from Mr Rodrigues of remorse, insight “or anything that would address the concerns outlined above”

Therefore there “remains a real risk of repetition” of the behaviour, posing potential harm to colleagues and the general public, the committee decided, concluding that removing his name from the register was the “only outcome that would protect the public”.

The committee also imposed an interim suspension order to prevent Mr Rodrigues from practising as a pharmacist during the 28-day appeal period.

Related: Hospital technician struck off after GPhC upholds sexual harassment allegations

Pharmacist struck off after conviction for distributing indecent images