Doctor faces child sex assault charge

09 August 2007

A DOCTOR has been charged with sexual assault and making indecent photographs, it emerged yesterday .

Rashid Sandhu, 29, faces charges of sexual assault on a girl aged 13, and 17 counts of making indecent/ pseudo-photographs of a child. He will appear at Great Yarmouth Magistrates Court on Monday, September 10.

Dr Sandhu was charged at Yarmouth police station late on Wednesday night and has been released on bail. Police confirmed yesterday that the assault did take place at the hospital.

Police officers began their enquiry in early June after allegations of the offences came to light. Dr Sandhu was immediately suspended from his duties at the James Paget University Hospital.

Throughout the investigation police have been working closely with senior managers at the James Paget and say they have received total co-operation throughout.

Adrian Pennington, chief executive at the hospital, confirmed that Dr Sandhu had been employed from August 2003 to April 2005 as an Senior House Officer and from May 2006 to the present day as a Specialist Registrar in the Accident and Emergency department.

Mr Pennington said: “As soon as the police contacted the trust with serious allegations, a full investigation was launched. The doctor was immediately excluded from duty at the hospital and the trust continues to work closely with the police.”

He added: “Prior to employment, thorough checks are made on all our clinical staff. These include checking employment history, clinical qualifications, visa status (if from abroad) and full police checks. I can confirm all these checks were completed in this instance and they did not highlight anything of concern.

“Our trust has robust child protection and audit procedures in place that reflect national policy, and we take a multi agency response to any allegation of this type. Patient safety is paramount.

“Investigations have shown there is no more we could have done to stop this individual allegedly choosing to ignore trust policy and procedure.”

Mr Pennington added that as proceedings were now underway, the trust would be making no further comment at this stage.

The hospital has issued a contact number for their Patient Advice and Liaison Office for anyone who may have concerns about this matter and wants to make contact. Call 01493 453240 during office hours.