Struck off GP serving 22-year prison sentence for sexual offences brought the medical profession ‘into disrepute’

Dr Stephen Cox (Credit: Thames Valley Police)

By Daniel Pye

A GP serving a 22-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting seven different patients has been struck off the medical register.

Dr Stephen Cox was handed his sentence at Reading Crown Court in October 2024 following a trial after being convicted of indecent assault on six women and one child. His youngest victim was 13 years old, Dr Cox’s tribunal heard.

The offences occurred when he worked as a GP in Reading between 1988 and 1997.

Representing the GMC, Megan Tollitt told the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service Dr Cox’s fitness to practice was impaired because of his conviction.

Tollitt referred the tribunal to the judge’s sentencing remarks, in which he told Dr Cox: “Your convictions demonstrate the gross breach of trust you committed in relation to your role as a trusted GP. Doctors are amongst the most highly respected and trusted members of society.

“Your 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 guide of a trusted family friendly GP but who took advantage of the unique position you were in to abuse and satisfy your sexual desires.”

Tollitt said that although the offences happened more than 20 years ago, other concerns had been raised over Dr Cox’s practice since then. She reminded the tribunal of a previous finding of impairment made against Dr Cox in 2010, which involved sexual misconduct.

Dr Cox relinquished his licence to practise in 2016 and has not worked as a doctor since then, Tollitt added.

In a letter written to the GMC before the tribunal hearing, Dr Cox wrote that he maintained his innocence, and was appealing his conviction and sentence with the courts.

The panel found that he had “demonstrated no insight into his conviction” and if it were not to make a finding of impairment “members of the public and members of the profession would be appalled and horrified”.

Dr Cox’s “offending behaviour has seriously undermined public trust and confidence in the medical profession and brought the medical profession into disrepute,” it determined.

It called Dr Cox’s behaviour “fundamentally incompatible with continued registration” and erasure “was the only appropriate and proportionate sanction”.

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