Dr Stephen Cox barred by GMC while working at Sussex GP practice

Dr Stephen Cox, now in jail for sex offences, worked in Sussex from 1998 to 2010. He was barred from practising medicine by the General Medical Council in 2010 after making sexual comments towards patients and medical students and thrusting his body against a female patient.

But Cox was allowed back into the profession in 2011 after a panel found the “risk of you repeating your sexually motivated misconduct is low”.

A spokesman for the GMC said they argued in 2010 that Cox should have been erased from the register as he “presented a risk to patients, particularly to female patients and to women in general”.

But a panel from the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service instead found he should be given a nine-month suspension.

(Image: Google Street View)

Cox was jailed last week for a string of indecent assaults on patients in Berkshire between 1988 and 1997. Thames Valley Police say Cox worked in Bracknell until 1998 before joining the Ouse Valley Practice in Handcross the same year.

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing in 2010 was told how Cox, then 51, told a patient: “I’m just making the most of it because it’s not very often I get to touch women’s bottoms” or words to that effect, as he gave her an injection.

One patient said they felt “tortured” by his behaviour while another described the doctor’s demeanour as “giggly inappropriateness”.

Another time he thrust his body against a female patient.

He also took this patient’s bra off without asking and told her she was “fit, not in the teenage sense, just fit” when she expressed concerns about her health.

While supervising a medical student he said: “We don’t often have beautiful medical students in the practice.”

He also deliberately touched and rubbed her leg and arm.

When she left the practice he contacted her via her private email address and suggested they meet in Brighton.

Cox was suspended from practising for nine months but a follow-up hearing in 2011 said he was fit to practice.

The 2011 panel said: “The panel considers that the risk of you repeating your sexually motivated misconduct is low.”

Lifting Cox’s suspension meant he was then able to practise again but police have not stated where he worked after that.

Allegations were later investigated regarding Cox’s behaviour before he worked in Sussex and he has now been jailed.

The now 65-year-old, from Shropshire, was jailed for 22 years for indecent assaults on seven patients dating back as recently as 1997.

(Image: Thames Valley Police) A spokeswoman for the GMC said: “We take all cases of sexual misconduct extremely seriously. We investigated and referred Dr Cox to a fitness to practise panel in 2010, on allegations of sexual misconduct and dishonesty.

“At the time, our Counsel said that Dr Cox’s conduct presented a risk to patients, particularly to female patients and to women in general, and that he had brought the profession into disrepute.

“We submitted that Dr Cox should be erased due to the patient safety risk he presented, but he was given a nine-month suspension by the panel.

“At the time we were not able to appeal fitness to practise panels’ decisions and the Professional Standards Authority, who had the right to appeal, did not do so.

“Today, we have a right to appeal against findings reached by medical tribunals, and we exercise this right where we feel decisions are not sufficient to protect patient safety or confidence in the medical profession.”

The GMC confirmed that at the beginning of the police investigation in 2022, Cox was given an interim suspension by a medical tribunal.

In her sentencing remarks, Judge Sarah Campbell told Cox: “Your convictions demonstrate the gross breach of trust you committed in your role as their trusted GP.

“Doctors are amongst the most highly respected and trusted members of our society.

“The convictions strike at the heart of everything the medical profession stands for.

“You are in a sense the worst kind of sexual predator, hiding in plain sight behind the guise of a trusted friendly family GP but who took advantage of the unique position you were in to abuse and satisfy your sexual desires.”

Judge Campbell added: “As many sexual predators do, you picked your female victims carefully, knowing that because of their age or their history and background they would be less likely to complain.”

The judge added that she understood the GMC intends to bring proceedings against Cox as a result of the convictions.

Speaking outside Reading Crown Court following the sentencing, Thames Valley Police Detective Constable Sara Di Giorgio said Cox was a “prolific sex offender”.

The investigating officer added: “He committed his crimes in plain sight, but beneath the mask of being a trusted family GP.

“He has completely betrayed his profession, his colleagues and his patients with a pattern of offending which is not to be underplayed.

“Cox targeted the most vulnerable of women, those who came to him for help in their hour of need.

“But rather than helping these patients, he betrayed them in an abhorrent way under the pretext of carrying out medical examinations.

“For decades, Cox’s victims have endured the pain and suffering of believing he had got away with his crimes – he did not.

“He has now been unmasked as a prolific sex offender and he will now face years in prison where he belongs.”

Detective Constable Di Giorgio said potential victims could contact Thames Valley Police at any time on 101 quoting Operation Kurtosis, or the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.