Doctor with ‘special interest in penises’ jailed for assaulting patients

A sexual health doctor who harboured a “special interest in penises” has been jailed for six years after sexually assaulting his patients in what was branded a “gross betrayal” of their trust. Dr Timothy Girling was found guilty by jurors on three sexual assault charges involving four patients, six voyeurism counts and one attempted voyeurism charge.

The 55 year-old predator also admitted three counts of creating indecent images of children. The court heard that 600 photographs of male genitals or “tight clothing” were discovered on his electronic devices. Girling would sexually assault patients and carry out sex acts on them whilst pretending to examine them for complaints about rashes or other medical problems, Bournemouth Crow Court was told. He also secretly used his iPhone to record the consultations and had installed a camera to film other men in a toilet. Rebecca Austin, prosecuting, told jurors that Girling was “using the guise of medical necessity to gain sexual gratification”.

She said: “Patients went to the clinic with the expectation that they might need to be touched for their medical condition to be diagnosed and treated.”

One victim informed police: “I left there crying because it was very wrong and he just abused his power.”

He continued: “I was a very, very vulnerable person back then, I was in a really dark place.”

Ms Austin revealed that Girling had received a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder and explained: “Autism leads to developing special areas of interest and he had one in penises.”

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During sentencing, Judge Jonathan Fuller KC noted that the defendant, of West Molesey, Surrey, had continued his offending behaviour despite being suspended and later reinstated following a previous complaint.

The judge also highlighted the defendant’s “weird” conduct of taking photographs of men urinating in alleyways, though this didn’t feature in the formal charges.

He told the perverted medic: “Being a doctor is a significant thing in a person’s life and no doubt there must be many you have helped but on another darker side, there are those you have abused.”

The judge rejected the defendant’s autism diagnosis as an explanation for his criminal behaviour, stating: “Your interest was a sexual one and that sexual activity was of your own choosing.

“The reality is you used your position to satisfy your particular sexual interests.”

He concluded: “This was a gross betrayal of your patients’ trust.”

Lucy Paddick of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “A doctor’s duty is to care for patients, not exploit them, and Timothy Girling repeatedly violated that fundamental trust.

“These sexual offences, carried out under the guise of legitimate medical practice, were deeply calculated.

“He manipulated vulnerable individuals and exploited them in clinical sittings – a place where they should feel safe and secure.

“In court, we showed how he used his professional position to facilitate this offending and secretly record intimate examinations.

“We hope these convictions demonstrate that such abuse of authority will be robustly prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service.”