A disgraced GP who “betrayed and exploited” male patients by repeatedly molesting them for his sexual gratification has been jailed for seven years.
Gregory Manson was convicted yesterday (July 3) of performing unnecessary and unjustified genital examinations over two decades while practising at Cossington House surgery in Canterbury.
The 56-year-old’s deviant conduct involved him touching groins, testicles and penises while unchaperoned, without offering an explanation and when not wearing gloves.
Jurors heard he also failed to document in patients’ records the fact that such intimate examinations had taken place or what the findings were in his efforts to cover his tracks.
Some of the victims, including teenage boys, were attending his surgery for ailments such as knee sprain, back pain, coughs or colds at the time.
Others had concerns including a rash, indigestion, fatigue and depression.
Manson, of Tower Way, Canterbury, denied 24 offences relating to his abuse and was found guilty at Canterbury Crown Court of 12 charges of sexual assault and four of indecent assault at the end of a three-week trial.
Having been bailed overnight but warned he would be going to prison, he returned to be told by Judge Simon Taylor KC that for almost the entirety of his medical career he had “periodically and opportunistically” abused male patients, some when simply registering with the surgery and others when “vulnerable” because of their physical or mental health.
Describing Manson’s defence against the charges as “flimsy and utterly false”, he continued: “Some of these men did not, at the time, feel like they were being abused.
“Others felt vague discomfort, one felt violated and two sought to avoid seeing you because they found the experience troubling.
“Others, despite your abuse, were taken in by your façade of being a patient-focused and risk adverse GP and actively asked to see you and looked to you for further help, providing you with confidential information which you have subsequently deployed during the construction and presentation of the flimsy and utterly false defences that you devised for each sexual assault.
“It is also right to reflect that because each of the examinations was conducted in a ‘medical fashion’, these men did not know that you were touching them for your own sexual purposes at the time.
“However, despite that, it must not be forgotten that these men felt at the time that your actions victimised them.”
In explaining that a prison sentence was the only appropriate punishment, Judge Taylor accepted that Manson would find his time behind bars “very hard indeed”.
“I consider that, in part, this is because of the additional impact it will have on your own self-esteem and sense of identity and your disbelief that you find yourself sharing forced accommodation with other criminals,” he told the former doctor.
“But the fact is, the law applies equally to highly educated individuals such as yourself, just as much as to any other member of the community.”
Manson will have to serve half his jail term before being released. He will then be subject to indefinite sex offender notification requirements and may be barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.
The court heard that after the first complaint was made in 2017, the resulting investigation conducted by the General Medical Council (GMC), NHS England and police led to other patients coming forward to recount similar experiences dating back to the late 1990s.
Although it was accepted that he was generally “a good doctor”, the victims told the court of their “shock, bewilderment and confusion” after being examined so intimately and often without explanation.
One concluded Manson was “weird, outdated and old-fashioned” in his approach and another was left feeling “embarrassed and violated”.
The jury heard how the doctor was said to have pulled down underwear without permission and gave one patient an instruction to lift his hips and buttocks by placing his hands on his waist as he lay on the couch and making a “tap tap” signal.
Another recalled having stripped completely naked at the GP’s request, while other examinations of the groin area were carried out as part of what were termed new patient health checks.
A number of impact statements from the victims, described as “courageous and public spirited” by Judge Taylor, were read to the court.
One, who was a teenager at the time, described how the effect of Manson’s abuse was “deep and enduring”.
“Looking back at my teenage years, it’s clear how much trust I placed in the medical system. I didn’t shy away from doctors. I believed in them. I turned to them….I believed the GP was a place where help happened,” he said.
But in addressing the doctor, he continued: “You taught me that help isn’t always safe. That authority can betray. That trust can be dangerous. You shattered something fundamental in me — the belief that asking for help won’t hurt you.”
Another spoke of how he no longer sees a doctor when ill as he has been left with “zero trust” in GPs.
Judge Taylor described Manson’s own abuse of trust, and the high regard in which his profession is held, as “immense”.
“People trusted you with access to their bodies and you abused that trust for your own sexual gratification. The ease with which you
were able to construct detailed, false defences in relation to each of these consultations exemplifies the level of trust afforded to you,” he told him.
“Put simply you were able to construct a false defence in order to justify your sexual abuse because that is something that is easy to do when you are a GP.
“The access you have to people’s bodies – the imbalance of power and knowledge and the fact that very often the people before you come to you because they need your help, all serve to demonstrate why the ‘doctor/patient’ relationship is built on trust.
“Because that relationship is so important in our society, general practitioners are trusted and respected members of the community.
“Your exploitative actions betrayed that. They betrayed not only your patients but also the wider medical profession.”
As well as his general practice work in the city since 1999, the South African-trained medic also had roles as a GP trainer and programme director of GP training, as well as a GP appraiser for the GMC.
During his trial Manson had told the court of his “shock and devastation” at the allegations.
Describing his approach as “thorough, comprehensive and cautious”, he maintained that any genital examinations he performed were in-keeping with his “clinical judgement” in helping to diagnose certain conditions, that it was his “standard practice” to seek consent, and that time pressures were to blame for his “limited” medical notes.
Manson, who has not worked as a GP since a GMC interim suspension order was imposed in 2017 but received suspension payments until July last year, was also ordered to pay £2,190 towards prosecution costs.
