A GP has been jailed after being found guilty of a string of indecent assaults against seven female patients in Berkshire.
Dr Stephen Cox, 65, was sentenced to 22 years’ imprisonment at Reading Crown Court on Monday.
On Friday, he was found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault and acquitted of a further four, after a four-week retrial at the same court.
Cox, from Stockton Mill, Welshpool, Shropshire, repeatedly indecently assaulted seven of his female patients on the pretext of carrying out routine medical examinations, between 1988 and 1997.
During the trial, the jury heard that he touched parts of patients’ bodies during examinations at his surgery in Bracknell, Berkshire, despite there being no medical reason to do so.
As well as getting patients to undress unnecessarily, he touched their breasts, pressed his body against them, and carried out internal examinations when they were not needed or without using gloves, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
The offences took place before the use of computerised healthcare records, which meant the police investigation revolved around handwritten GP notes.
The indecent assaults were not reported at the time, and victims came forward once a police investigation opened into Cox, the CPS said.
Cox claimed he did not remember any of the patients and denied the allegations, saying it was either a misunderstanding, an accident, or that his victims were not telling the truth.
Lawyer Chris White, for the CPS, said: “The medical expert who we put forward to give evidence during the trial confirmed that there was no medical justification for Stephen Cox’s actions.
“His behaviour was clearly sexually motivated, and he used his position to take advantage of his patients when they should have been able to trust him.
“With no witnesses to the assaults, it was the strength of all the victims’ accounts, which showed a similar pattern in Cox’s behaviour, that helped secure his conviction.
“We would like to thank them for coming forward and we hope today’s sentence gives them some sense of closure.”