National Health Service (NHS) doctor Manish Shah has been given a “life” sentence with a 15-year minimum term after being convicted for dozens of sex attacks on female patients.
Romford-based Shah, who speaks Hindi and Gujarati and was born overseas, had been found guilty “nine counts of sexual assault and 16 counts of sexual assault by penetration” in December 2019, on top of convictions for “65 offences of sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault by touching” at the conclusion of another trial in December 2018, according to a Metropolitan Police statement.
Shah pressured his victims, ranged in age from 15 to 32, into “regular breast and vaginal examinations, when there was no clinical need” purely for his own sexual gratification, the courts found.
“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,” commented Detective Superintendent Tara McGovern for the Central Specialist Crime team of the Metropolitan Police.
“The judge rightly described him as a ‘master of deception’. 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,” she added.
“His conviction is the culmination of a huge amount of work on what was a complex, sensitive investigation which was supported by NHS England. I would like to acknowledge the women who were victims of Shah, and who supported the prosecution and gave evidence at Shah’s trials. Without their evidence, Shah may not have been brought to justice, but the weight of evidence against him at both trials was overwhelming.”
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