Sex abuse doctor's victim urges others to come forward

A woman who was sexually assaulted by her doctor in her own home when she was six months pregnant has urged other potential victims to come forward.

His patients included a rape victim, teenage children and pregnant women.

The woman the BBC spoke to - who we are calling Emma but whose real name cannot be used to protect her identity - said she thinks there may be many more victims.

After his conviction, police said the complaints against Singh, whose practice was in Coatbridge health centre, were "the tip of the iceberg".

The GP, who was also a police casualty surgeon and was awarded an MBE in 2013, was described by the judge at his trial as a sexual predator "hiding in plain sight".

He described Singh's serial offending between February 1983 and May 2018 as "calculated and manipulative".

Emma's case dates back almost 40 years to when she phoned her GP concerned she was having a miscarriage.

Singh, who is now 76, made a call to Emma's house and started to do an examination.

"The way he was touching me, it didn't feel right," she said.

Afterwards Singh just told her to rest and it would be fine.

"That was it," she said. "Nothing else. I was just in so much shock.

"I know it's going to be 39 years but I can still see it. I just know it was wrong. I knew immediately."

Despite being incredibly upset, Emma did not report the doctor to police and instead confided in her husband.

"I don't think he really understood," she said.

"I think he thought I was maybe upset and not sure what happened."

She went on to have a healthy baby but left Singh's medical practice shortly afterwards.

Decades later, in 2018, Emma said she was shocked to see his name in the news in relation to similar allegations.

After two months of thinking it over, she went to the police and discovered there were many other victims.

Emma gave evidence as a witness and in May 2022 Singh was found guilty of 54 sexual offences against women and girls over a 35-year period.

His crimes included kissing, groping, inappropriate examinations and making sleazy comments to 47 patients in various medical settings, of which Emma was one.

However, she said there was no sense of justice after the verdict.

"There's no closure for me," she said.

"I've not even had an apology from anybody."

She said she hoped other victims would have the confidence to report what had happened to them.

"I would like other women this has happened to, to come forward, not to be afraid anymore," she said.

"I know he's in jail but these women have to give their side of the story, what happened to them as well and maybe we'll get a bit of justice."

Law firm Thompsons Solicitors is pursuing a civil legal action against NHS Lanarkshire on behalf of 31 former patients who were harmed by Singh while carrying out work for the health board.

It is seeking damages for physical and psychological injury as well as loss of wages.

Laura Connor, a partner from the family impact team at the solicitors, said: "Dr Singh's offending was significant.

"He is probably one of the most prolific sex offenders that we deal with in terms of civil claims.

"We've raised a group action in relation to what happened to the survivors and the patients of him and there's 31 members of that group."

Dr Lucy Munro, medical director for health and social care at North Lanarkshire, said: "We cannot comment on ongoing legal action.

"Singh's actions were a despicable breach of trust and a total abuse of the patient-doctor relationship.

"The GP community and health colleagues in Lanarkshire were shocked and condemned his actions."

She said the health board was grateful to the patients who had come forward and added that NHS Lanarkshire took allegations of this nature extremely seriously.