Molesting GP struck off

A DOCTOR who molested and propositioned a series of young women patients was ordered to be struck off the medical register yesterday.

Dr James Hammond, 53, sexually molested six women over a seven-year period. One of them was only 15.

He was barred from practice after the General Medical Council's professional conduct committee heard how he pestered the women at his surgery in Erskine, Renfrewshire, and sometimes at their homes.

The committee was told how Hammond was convicted of a breach of the peace with the six patients at Paisley Sheriff Court in June last year.

Ordering Hammond to be removed from the register, the chairwoman, Alam Ara Khan, said: "The public have to be protected from his activities."

She added: "His conduct was a breach of the trust which should exist between patient and doctor and was deeply distressing to a number of vulnerable patients. Such behaviour cannot be tolerated."

The committee was told how Hammond, who failed to appear before the Central London hearing, was attracted to young, vulnerable female patients and had molested a student, a hairdresser, a housewife and even a schoolgirl.