A family doctor indecently assaulted patients he was examining, a court heard.

Rodney Tate, 66, is accused of sexually assaulting 14 women over 25 years.

One of the youngest, just 17 and pregnant when she was allegedly attacked, told Lewes Crown Court she fell prey to the GP while she was having a smear test.

The jury heard Tate attacked another patient while examining her for piles - even though she had not complained of the condition.

Tate, who denies 17 counts of indecent assault, was suspended in August 2004 from his practice at the Old Steine Surgery, Brighton, where he had worked since 1968.

Rose Burns, prosecuting, said 14 witness were due to appear.

She read a statement by medical expert Dr John Grenville which said Dr Tate had used the pretext of the examinations "to satisfy his sexual gratification and enforce his position of power in the doctor-patient relationship".

One woman, then aged 16, was kept on her hands and knees while Tate sexually assaulted her, the jury heard.

Another said Tate groped her breasts when she was 17 after she told him she was suffering from a sore throat.

The accusations date back to 1977 when Tate conducted the smear test on the 17-year-old girl.

She told the jury she was very naive and had not known what to expect. She felt embarrassed and uncomfortable during the examination but did not complain. It was only after she changed doctors and had another smear test she realised something was wrong.

She added she had never felt comfortable with Tate, who she had known since she was a child.

She told the court: "The way he looked sometimes was really not how you would expect a doctor to look. If somebody looked like that anywhere else you would think it was because he liked or fancied you."

Defending Tate, William Coker, QC, said no smear test had been carried out during the routine examination.

Another woman told the court of a similar assault in 1980, when she was 19.

She said: "I was repulsed. I hated every minute of it.

"It seemed like more than five minutes and he was looking into my eyes all the time."

Mrs Burns said perhaps the most serious assault occurred when one of Tate's patients was in her fourth month of pregnancy and suffering painful stomach cramps.

After subjecting her to a severe assault, Tate cupped and stroked her breasts before watching her dress and telling her she was probably suffering from wind, it is claimed.

Police launched an investigation following complaints from three patients in May 2003.

The trial is expected to last four weeks.