Ex-Children's Doctor Guilty Of Sex Assaults

A former children's doctor has been found guilty of assaulting young girls in the same hospital as Jimmy Savile.

Michael Salmon preyed upon girls at Stoke Mandeville Hospital at a time when Savile also prowled the wards - though there is no suggestion of a link between the pair.

The 79-year-old was convicted of nine indecent assaults and two rapes carried out between 1973 and 1988.

His six victims, one of whom was raped at his home, were aged 11 to 18 at the time.

Jurors at Reading Crown Court had been told how Salmon, a father, carried out many of his attacks behind a screen in his consulting room at the Buckinghamshire hospital.

Often the victim's parents were waiting nearby, believing the consultant paediatrician was completing a medical examination.

The court heard how Salmon thought he was "bomb-proof" because no one would believe a child over him.

"On some of the occasions he handled the breasts of some of the young girls, with the pretence of listening to their heart, and he also on occasions carried out internal vaginal examinations, something for which there was no medical need whatsoever, without a nurse present and without wearing surgical gloves," the court was told.

Salmon raped one girl, 16, when she turned to him believing she was pregnant.

After confirming the pregnancy, the doctor took her to a bedroom at his home and raped her.

"One favour deserves another," he told her.

Salmon raped her again after luring her back by saying she might be pregnant with twins.

Jurors took just over 15 hours to reach their verdict.

The former paediatrician was cleared of carrying out an illegal abortion on his rape victim, as well as a separate rape and indecent assault.

No date for sentencing has yet been set.

Thames Valley Police said other women had come forward with allegations against Salmon since the beginning of the trial last month.

Stoke Mandeville, in Aylesbury, entered the spotlight following disclosures about Savile's abuse in 2011.

An NHS report into the now-deceased TV personality's crimes there was delayed last year to gather new evidence. It has yet to be published.