'Depraved' physio assaulted clients after telling them undressing was part of treatment

A "depraved" physiotherapist who convinced his patients to take off their clothes for what he claimed were necessary treatments has been put behind bars for six years. Purnoor Bawa, 44, told the women that removing their clothing was a standard procedure required to treat their injuries.

However, once they were undressed, Bawa would proceed to sexually assault them, touching areas unrelated to their treatment, said police. Labelled as a 'danger to women', he exploited seven women across a span of five years. Bawa denied eight counts of sexual assault but was found guilty after a trial at Woolwich Crown Court and received a six-year sentence on Friday (June 14).

The court was informed that in December 2018, Kent Police responded to an incident at Bawa's workplace in Gravesend where he had reportedly conducted an inappropriate massage on a patient being treated for an ankle injury. At that time, Bawa was already under restrictions to work only with a chaperone present due to ongoing investigations by the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) into his conduct.

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An earlier hearing by an HCPTS tribunal panel revealed that Bawa, during sessions with a woman recovering from a car accident, asked her to take off her bra and massaged her breasts without any clothing. Feeling "groomed" after the encounter, the woman reported Bawa to the authorities. Bawa, who moved to the UK from India in 2003, had worked with various NHS Trusts from 2005 until 2018.

In 2017, he started his own private practice, offering physiotherapy services in Gravesend and Dartford. After the December 2018 incident, Bawa was arrested and was later released while further enquiries were underway. These included revisiting two previous reports against Bawa which, at the time, hadn't met the evidential threshold for prosecution.

By April of the following year, five women had stepped forward. Detailed investigations into each case provided enough evidence to charge Bawa. Kent Police's press release on the charges prompted two additional victims to report offences Bawa had committed against them.

Despite denying eight counts of sexual assault, Bawa was convicted after a trial and received a six-year prison sentence last week. Detective Constable Peter Hylands, the officer in charge of the investigation, said that Bawa's victims' testimonies clearly showed he "belongs behind bars".

Hylands stated: "Purnoor Bawa manipulated and groomed his victims, making them think his actions were justified when in reality he was taking advantage of them for his own depraved ends. Each offence was committed in the privacy of Bawa's treatment room where there were no independent witnesses, CCTV cameras or any other forms of evidence."

The detective also highlighted the bravery of the victims: "It is therefore almost entirely down to the courage of each victim and their strength in numbers that we were able to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that Bawa had sexually assaulted them. He has shown that not only is he unfit to practice as a physiotherapist, but he is also a danger to women and belongs behind bars."

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