Doctor struck off after being found in possession of indecent images of children

Dr Mahmoud Abdelaziz, who worked at Shrewsbury's hospital as a doctor in respiratory medicine, had been convicted of the offence at Shrewsbury Crown Court last year.

A hearing of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service has now decided that he should be struck off.

Abdelaziz, who qualified in 2015 from the University of Mansoura, Egypt, had claimed at Shrewsbury Crown Court that he had been gathering the images to help police track down those responsible for abuse.

The tribunal heard he had been identified in 2018 by members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) British Columbia Integrated Child Exploitation Unit as being in possession of, and distributing, indecent images of children through a group online platform.

The tribunal report states: "The jury rejected Dr Abdelaziz’s 'excuse' that he had accumulated this large collection of images, not for his own sexual interest in them, but simply for the purpose of assisting law enforcement authorities to track down their source."

Abdelaziz was convicted of six charges last November and was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, at a hearing in February.

The charges included three counts of making indecent images of children, possession of prohibited images, possession of extreme pornographic images, and distributing indecent images of children.

As well as the suspended sentence he was made subject of a ten-year sexual harm prevention order and a notification period of ten years, was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, take part in a MAPPS for Change programme, along with a 40 day rehabilitation requirement.

The tribunal report includes sentencing remarks from Judge Peter Barrie at Shrewsbury Crown Court, who told Abdelaziz: "You were found to have on your computer devices a large number of indecent images which broke the law.

"There was a large number of indecent sexualised images of children in all three categories of seriousness; prohibited images; extreme pornographic images not involving children; and evidence of some distribution of images that you had taken from other sites on the internet.

“I must take into account the number of images, the seriousness of the images and the timescale over which they were downloaded.

"They include a substantial number, about 1,500 images of children in category A, the highest category of seriousness, and also 40 extreme images of pornography."

The tribunal report said there could be a risk to patients from the offending.

It states: "The tribunal noted that Dr Abdelaziz’s offences took place in his private life and did not involve direct contact with patients or the public.

"However, the tribunal had regard to the probation officer’s analysis of the risk of serious harm to children arising from those offences, which she determined to be at the medium level. The tribunal concluded, therefore, that there may be patient safety issues which arise from the doctor’s prior offending."

It added: "The tribunal was satisfied that the offences leading to Dr Abdelaziz’s conviction were very serious. It considered that Dr Abdelaziz has brought the profession into disrepute, and that he was in breach of fundamental tenets of the profession, in particular ensuring that his conduct justified the trust of patients and the public in the profession.

"The tribunal therefore concluded that Dr Abdelaziz’s fitness to practice is impaired in order to maintain public confidence in the profession and to promote and maintain proper professional standards and conduct for the members of the profession."

Abdelaziz's registration has been immediately suspended pending any appeal, before his registration is erased.

A spokesman for The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust said: “No concerns were raised regarding his duties during the time Abdelaziz worked at the trust and none of the offences took place at his workplace. We assisted police fully with their enquiries. Once he was arrested he was excluded and did not return to the trust.”