London: An Indian-origin general practitioner on Friday was sentenced to three life sentences for 90 sex assaults on his female patients where he carried out invasive examinations for sexual gratification.
Manish Natverlal Shah aged 50 who has gained a medical degree from the University of London mentioned health cases of celebrities such as Angelina Jolie and Jade Goody to frighten patients between 2009 to 2013 noted the High Court of England and Wales on Friday sentencing him the term.
Judge Anne Molyneux described him as a “master of deception who abused his position of power. You made up stories that got into heads and caused panic. Your behaviour was not only sexual but was driven by your desire to control and on occasions humiliate women”.
He is found guilty of recommending regular breast and vaginal examinations of patients during his work as a GP in Romford, east London, when there was no such need for clinical examination.
Dr Shah also highlighted the urgency of check-ups for cervical cancer, breast cancer and other illnesses.
The court noted that Shah was not only “over familiar” with some of his female patients, but also made inappropriate comments as well as made physical contact, hugged and kissed them.
Paul Goddard, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Manish Shah was a trusted family doctor, but he took advantage of that trust to abuse his female patients and then falsified their medical notes to try to justify intimate medical examinations that should not have taken place.
“The Crown Prosecution Service wishes to commend those women, who by bravely giving evidence convinced the jury of Dr Shah’s guilt.”
Dr Shah was in the past arrested in September 2013 but later at an earlier trial in the year 2018, he was convicted of offences relating to 18 other people, bringing the total number of offences to 90 relating to 23 patients.
Lawyer for Shah, Zoe Johnson, said: “It goes without saying that all of these women feel grossly abused, humiliated, and that the trust that they placed in Manish Shah has been so dreadfully exploited. He deeply regrets hurting them and cannot say sorry enough”.
Richard McDonagh of Scotland Yard said: “Shah was a long-serving doctor who was well-known in the community, and trusted and liked by his patients, many who had him as their GP for many years”.
“They were unaware that Shah was carrying out unnecessary, invasive examinations on female patients for his own sexual gratification, after giving his victims misleading clinical advice. These offences are particularly grave due to Shah’s abuse of his position, and of the trust placed in him as a family doctor”.