A paramedic has been jailed for 21 years after he raped a patient in her own home and sexually assaulted another in the back of his ambulance.

Andrew Wheeler, 46, was described by the judge as a “manipulative sexual predator” and had shown an “arrogance and a belief that he was untouchable and protected” because of his paramedic’s uniform.

Wheeler was on duty as a single crew paramedic in a rapid response car when he was called to a help a woman who had collapsed at her friend’s house in Cambridgeshire in 2018.

When he arrived at the property it became clear the woman was drunk, Peterborough Crown Court heard.

Wheeler sent away two other paramedics who arrived together in an ambulance, assuring them he had things under control.

He then drove the woman to her own house where he raped and sexually assaulted her.

Noel Casey, prosecuting, said the woman was “extremely intoxicated” and was “unable to properly respond or even resist what he did to her, and he did these things while she was alone in her own home, the defendant having taken her there”.

He added: “There was a gross breach of trust.”

The woman said in a victim impact statement read to the court: “I have no faith in the NHS and I’ve avoided seeing a paramedic and attending the hospital just because of what happened.”

She said she has flashbacks, adding: “I couldn’t handle dealing with life. I became a recluse.”

In a separate incident in 2010, Wheeler sexually assaulted a woman patient in the back of his ambulance.

Mr Casey said: “She was suffering from anaphylaxis, she was unable to breathe, she was therefore unable to properly respond or even resist.

“It was also a gross breach of trust, the defendant being the treating ambulance technician on the day.”

Wheeler had previously raped the woman in 2009 on an occasion when she was not a patient.

Wheeler was convicted of the rape and sexual assault of the two women after a month-long trial at Peterborough Crown Court.

He was also found guilty of two counts of sexual assault of a child under the age of 13 in respect of a girl who was not a patient.

Wheeler was also made the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Judge Matthew Lowe said on Friday that Wheeler had shown “not a shred of remorse”, before adding: “He’s demonstrated that he’s a manipulative sexual predator, willing to exploit for his own gratification the vulnerabilities of three separate (victims).”

The judge said Wheeler would never work as a paramedic, or in a similar capacity, again.

Jennifer Dempster QC, mitigating, said Wheeler had no previous convictions and was someone who has done a “great deal of positive work in his life”.

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