Jaswant Rathore (pictured outside Wolverhampton Crown Court), groped his victims after they sought treatment for bad backs and other injuries, by persuading them to take part in ‘manual manipulation therapy’
An ‘breathtakingly arrogant’ GP who ‘used his standing in the community as a cloak’ to sexually abuse four female patients during intimate ‘massages’ has been jailed for 12 years.
Jaswant Rathore, 60, groped his victims after they sought treatment for bad backs and other injuries, by persuading them to take part in ‘manual manipulation therapy’.
He was convicted of 10 sex offences at Wolverhampton Crown Court after a seven-week trial that heard how he fondled his victims’ breasts and ‘massaged their buttocks’.
The ‘well-respected’ GP, who was the primary care lead for Dudley’s clinical commissioning group (CCG), committed his crimes between late 2008 and the summer of 2015.
He was cleared of eight other charges of sexual assault against four other women. One of his victims told the court how he inserted his fingers into her bottom during an examination on September 29, 2012.
He assaulted the same woman on June 25 that year when he massaged her buttocks, and stroked the side of the breasts of another victim.
Rathore, of Wall Heath, Kingswinford, near Dudley, West Midlands, also put his fingers inside the bottom of another patient on September 19, 2013, the court heard.
Rathore was the lead GP at the Castle Meadow surgery in Dudley, West Midlands (pictured)
In 2014 he again touched the same woman’s buttocks during an examination at Castle Meadows Surgery in Dudley.
The jury took six hours and nine minutes to find Rathore guilty of eight charges of sexual assault and two counts of assault by penetration.
Rathore clenched his fist and gestured to his family from the dock as he was jailed today.
Judge Michael Challinor said: ‘Many witnesses in the trial spoke highly of your professionalism, diligence, expertise and amiability.
‘These qualities made you the ‘go-to’ doctor in the area.
‘You used your standing within the community as a cloak behind which you could carry out sexual assaults on your patients for your personal gratification.
‘By your actions you violated the faith they had in you to carry out legitimate medical procedures.
The 60-year-old is pictured centre right with his family outside Wolverhampton Crown Court
He (pictured centre right) was convicted of 10 sex offences at Wolverhampton Crown Court after a seven-week trial that heard how he fondled his victims’ breasts and ‘massaged their buttocks’
‘You deliberately avoided offering chaperones, giving little or no explanation for what you were doing, and failed to make adequate notes in order to hide your offending.
‘Some of your behaviour demonstrated a breathtaking degree of arrogance – you no doubt hoping your standing in the medical community would enable you to talk your way out of any difficulty.
‘You gave little or no explanation of what you were doing, telephone records showed that you pursued [one victim] and said it was for missed appointments.
‘I accept that from the stand point of your family and your professional life is a complete shipwreck.
‘These were deliberate, planned assaults, but there is an additional feature as many people submit intimate features to doctors.
‘In terms of culpability there is a breach of trust.’
Prosecutor Heidi Kubik said Rathore had a ‘special interest’ in the massage therapy he was giving to his patients and ‘read various articles over the internet.’
She said: ‘We say this was an interest fuelled by his own illicit sexual desires.
‘Each of these victims allowed him to touch them because they trusted him as their doctor when he said that examination was necessary.
‘These treatments including putting his fingers inside them.
The ‘well-respected’ GP (pictured), who was the primary care lead for Dudley’s clinical commissioning group (CCG), committed his crimes between late 2008 and the summer of 2015
‘They trusted that he was suitably qualified when he manipulated and massaged their buttocks.’
One victim told how Rathore repeatedly groped her between November 2014 and May 2015.
Ms Kubik said: ‘He persuaded her to undo her bra.
‘He massaged her as he had done before, but this time, to her horror, she realised that he was masturbating with his other hand.
‘The incident came to a head when someone knocked on the door and she realised that his trousers were undone.’
He was arrested after the woman, who was 24 at the time, reported him to police in 2015.
Indian-born Rathore qualified as a GP back in 1985 and had been the practice principal at Castle Meadows Surgery since 1986.
He came to Britain aged three with his family and studied medicine at the University of Manchester.
He also worked as a house officer in the spinal surgery section at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham in the 1980s.
He was suspended by the General Medical Council following his arrest.
Ms Kubik added: ‘He enjoyed a good reputation locally as a good GP.
‘These sexual assaults were perpetrated during what he called manual manipulation therapies he presented to patients, some of whom had lower back problems.’
He was cleared of eight other charges of sexual assault against four other women
Alan Jenkins, defending, said: ‘One has to look at the factors, the patients haven’t suffered severe psychological damage.
‘There were medical purposes for a rectum examination but it was not done in the correct manner.’
Speaking after the trial, Detective Inspector Michelle Thurgood, of West Midlands Police, said: ‘Dr Rathore was a trusted GP.
‘Many of the patients that have come forward to us have gone to him for years – their lifetime – so are absolutely traumatised and devastated that he has abused that position of trust by carrying out these acts against them.
‘I commend their bravery and courage in coming forward.’
Describing how the inquiry developed, the detective added: ‘The first patient came forward in May 2015, very closely followed by two other patients who came forward.’
After Rathore was charged, a further five patients made contact with detectives.
Det Insp Thurgood said: ‘I am so grateful to all of them for having the bravery to come forward in the first place, but even more so to actually go through the court process – it’s very traumatic and it’s very difficult.
‘The door is clearly always open. There may be people who are sat at home who have seen this in the press who now realise that what happened to them was in fact a sexual assault – if that is you, please come forward.
‘We will put you in touch with specially trained officers and give you the support you need.’