Whitburn GP Thair Altaii jailed for secretly filming women struck off

A tribunal found Altaii

A GP jailed for having 19,000 images and videos of female patients on his home computer has been struck off.

Dr Thair Altaii, from Whitburn, South Tyneside, was jailed for 14 months in August last year after being found guilty of voyeurism.

He claimed he filmed women during consultations for "training purposes".

A three-day hearing of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), which he did not attend, found his fitness to practise was impaired.

In a statement, it said: "Dr Altaii's expressions of regret are further undermined by his continued denial of his offending behaviour and the apparently dismissive attitude to his victims.

"He has yet to appreciate the gravity of his offences and continues to seek to excuse his behaviour."

It also said there was a risk of reoffending. He has 28 days to appeal.

Altaii, of White Rocks Grove, was suspended from his practice in Sunderland when charges were brought.

During his trial at Newcastle Crown Court he denied three counts of voyeurism between 2008 and 2014 relating to 300 pictures of two women.

The court heard he had thousands of images of women "in various states of undress", all taken in his surgery.

A patient alerted police after she noticed two mobile phones propped up during examination.

In a statement read out in court one of the victims said it made her "physically sick to think what those images were used for".

Another said: "You should be able to trust your doctor.".