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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
National
Annie Brown

48 victims of Lanarkshire sex attack doctor 'tip of the iceberg'

Four more women claim they were abused by a doctor who sexually abused 48 patients.

Police believe it's "tip of the iceberg" with fresh investigations underway as more potential victims of Krishna Singh to come forward.

The Lanarkshire GP was found guilty of 54 sex assault charges last month, spanning 35 years from February 1983 to May 2018.

In an interview with the Daily Record today the head of Police Scotland's sex crime unit Fil Capaldi urged others who may not have reported attacks to come forward.

He said: "I don't believe this will be the only four new complaints.

"What we tend to get in cases like this is the tip of the iceberg. There will be more victims out there."

Singh, - who had been awarded an MBE for medical services - subjected his victims to kissing, groping, inappropriate examinations and sleazy comments during decades of offending between 1983 and 2018.

Detective Superintendent Capaldi said the case was one of the most shocking and prolific Scotland has known involving a single abuser.

He said: "We would say to any victims, come forward, it's never too late. We will listen, we will investigate and we will give you a voice."

Singh, 72, targeted patients - including two girls, 14 and 15 - as well as pregnant women while working at Coatbridge Medical Centre in Lanarkshire.

Singh denied the crimes during a two-month trial at the High Court in Glasgow but was convicted of 54 charges against the victims.

The crimes mainly consisted of multiple sexual and indecent assaults.

He was found not proven on nine other charges and not guilty on a further two.

The offences mainly occurred at his medical practices in Lanarkshire, but also at a hospital accident and emergency department and a police station as well as during visits to patients' homes.

The charges spanned 35 years - from February 1983 to May 2018.

In his role as a police casualty surgeon he indecently assaulted a rape victim he was forensically examining at Motherwell police station in March 2008.

DS Capaldi said Singh's exploitation of the vulnerability of women who had been raped was shocking. He said: "If it wasn't bad enough with the victims in his practice, to then do the same to victims of serious sexual assault is absolutely horrific."

He had assaulted a 50-year-old hospital worker who had reported she had been raped and quizzed her on whether the sex was consensual.

She told jurors at Singh's trial at the in Glasgow that he asked her what she had been wearing when she was attacked.

She said: "He asked how low my top was and if my cleavage was showing.

"He was asking if I was being provocative, he said, 'So, you are not a good time girl'."

DS Capaldi said Singh had exploited his status as a doctor, abusing women he knew would be too intimidated to confront his predatory behaviour.

He added: "It is a power imbalance, and people like Singh look to abuse their positions of responsibility and get themselves into positions where they can -perpetrate crimes, almost with impunity.

"That was the situation with Singh. He was in a position of trust, often one-on-one in a closed room where he exploited the vulnerability of the women who came to him for help.

"Regardless of who the perpetrator is and how long ago the crime happened, if there is a case there, we will pursue it."

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