'Hypnotic' doctor cleared of sexual misconduct

A hospital doctor who was accused of talking to female patients in a "hypnotic way" has been cleared of sexual misconduct by a medical tribunal for a second time.

Dr Neill Charles Garrard was accused by a woman in Winchester of "hypnosis-style chanting" and telling her "you will lust for me", while a patient in Lewisham said he made her undress unnecessarily and used a "weird... soothing voice", a panel previously heard.

In February 2025, a High Court judge ordered the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) to hear the case again, saying it had made legal errors.

However, the service again found the allegations not proved.

Dr Garrard worked as a locum registrar in the emergency departments at Royal Hampshire County Hospital and University Hospital Lewisham.

In March 2021, he treated a woman in Winchester who accused him of chanting and touching her inappropriately.

A second woman, who was seen by the doctor in December 2021 in London, said he told her to wait for him after his shift and said "weird things when my eyes were closed" although she did not think he was trying to hypnotise her.

In December 2023, the MPTS ruled the cases had "very substantial differences".

It said the women's allegations, which were found not proved, could not be said to support each other.

However, ordering a new hearing, Mr Justice MacDonald said the panel had wrongly applied the law.

He said: "It is not necessary to find one allegation to be proved before relying upon the evidence in respect of that allegation in support of the other allegation."

The MPTS considered 20 charges between 7 and 23 January 2026 and found all of the allegations not proved.

In its ruling, it said the only cross-admissible similarity between the two women's complaints was the element of hypnosis.

However, it said that was probably a coincidence.

The panel said: "Both patients were experiencing symptoms that meant the creation of a false memory (through dreaming, hallucination, medication or confusion) was entirely possible.

"Dr Garrard had likely been their last significant face to face interaction before sleep and it is perhaps not unlikely that when they were tired they may both have experienced his softly spoken voice to have felt hypnotic."

It said the fact that both women were alone, vulnerable and presenting with mental health difficulties was not significant.

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