GP who indecently assaulted patients loses appeal

A GP who indecently assaulted patients as he carried out routine medical examinations has failed to have his 22-year prison sentence cut.

Stephen Cox was jailed in October 2024 after he was found guilty of 12 charges on seven patients while working at a practice in Bracknell, Berkshire, between 1988 and 1997.

At his sentencing, Judge Sarah Campbell said Cox was the "worst kind of sexual predator" and had assaulted vulnerable women he thought would be less likely to complain.

Michael Rawlinson, for Cox, told the Court of Appeal his sentence was "excessive" but the claim was dismissed.

The doctor, from near Welshpool, Powys, got some of his victims to undress unnecessarily, pressed his body against them and touched their breasts without any medical purpose.

The jury at Reading Crown Court cleared Cox of four counts against one alleged victim following a month-long trial.

Now retired and struck off the medical register in August, Cox previously worked in Wokingham, Burton-on-Trent, Wolverhampton, Derby, Leicestershire, Telford and West Sussex.

Court of Appeal judges Lady Justice Andrew, Mrs Justice Cutts and Mrs Justice Thornton found Cox's abuse was "shocking" and while he was given a "long sentence…it is not manifestly excessive".

Cox was suspended from practising as a doctor for nine months in October 2010.

Regulators found he acted inappropriately and in a "sexually motivated" way with two patients and a trainee while working at a practice in Handcross, West Sussex.

Instances included placing a hand inside a patient's bra during an examination, pushing or thrusting his body against a woman's bottom and deliberately touching and/or rubbing the medical student's leg and arm.

The hearing was told he was "devastated when the complainants came forward" but a panel found Cox did not show he was "able to empathise with the perspectives of the women concerned".