FAMILY doctor Clifford Ayling was convicted of 13 indecent assaults on 10 female patients and jailed for four years in December 2000.
Ayling, who denied the charges, was arrested in November 1998 but was allowed to continue working at his practice in Folkestone, Kent until his eventual trial.
He worked for the next two years after he overturned a bail condition preventing him from doing so. After appealing to the High Court he was allowed to continue on the condition he was chaperoned by a female nurse.
A jury at Maidstone Crown Court found him guilty of 13 counts. Not guilty verdicts were returned on five counts involving another three women, and a further 11 counts of indecent assault against eight victims were allowed to lie on file.
The indecent assaults were carried out between 1991 and 1998. From around 1980 to 1994 he worked as a clinical assistant in obstetrics and gynaecology in various Kent hospitals, holding clinics and delivering babies. At least seven complaints about him were made during this time.
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