3 life terms for Indian-origin doctor who sexually assaulted patients in London

Manish Natverlal Shah, a general practitioner, was given three life sentences for 90 sex assaults on female patients while working in London, when he carried out invasive examinations for sexual gratification

Manish Natverlal Shah, a general practitioner, was on Friday given three life sentences for 90 sex assaults on female patients while working in London, when he carried out invasive examinations for sexual gratification.

Shah, 50, who gained his medical qualifications from the University of London in 1993, mentioned health issues of celebrities such as Angeline Jolie and Jade Goody as examples to frighten patients between 2009 and 2013, the high court of England and Wales was told.

Judge Anne Molyneux described him as a “master of deception who abused his position of power. You made up stories which 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”.

Shah, who worked as a GP in Romford, east London, recommended that the patients have regular breast and vaginal examinations, when there was no clinical need. He highlighted the urgency of check-ups for cervical cancer, breast cancer and other illnesses.

The court was told that Shah was “over familiar” with some of his female patients, and made inappropriate comments as well as making physical contact and hugging and kissing 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.”

Shah was first arrested in September 2013.

At an earlier trial in 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”.