GP faces life for sex attacks

A north London doctor described by police as being part of a "paedophile ring of professionals" is facing a life sentence after admitting a string of sex attacks on child and adult patients.

Detectives from Scotland Yard's Paedophile Unit said that Timothy Healy, 56, drugged some of his patients and them filmed himself abusing them as they lay unconscious on his examination table.

The attacks stretched back as far as 24 years and only came to light last year when Scotland Yard's Paedophile Unit received an anonymous tip-off.

The victims, who were all male, did not know they had been targets until they were tracked down by the police.

Victims scared

Some were so distraught they are now receiving counselling, and others who were featured on the film have not been identified.

Other victims, who were not drugged, included teenagers he had met while a medical officer in the army cadets.

They were too embarrassed or afraid to come forward.

Healy was arrested at Gatwick Airport in May last year when he returned from a holiday in Tunisia.

The GP, of Abbots Gardens, East Finchley, was suspended by the General Medical Council following his arrest.

On Friday, he admitted a total of 31 offences at London's Southwark Crown court.

Prison 'inevitable'

They included five indecent assaults, four of them on children dating back to 1978, as well as five counts of taking indecent pictures and another five of possessing them.

Healy also admitted six counts of administering a "stupefying or overpowering" drug in order to carry out sex attacks.

Sentencing was adjourned until 20 September for reports.

But Judge George Bathurst-Norman warned Healy that although he was prepared to allow him bail to an address in Salisbury, Wiltshire, the matter was "so serious" that imprisonment was "almost inevitable".

Detective constable David Page, who is involved in the case, said: "Like most paedophiles these days, Healy is not a dirty old man in a raincoat.

"Like them, he is very intellectual, very articulate, very professional and extremely respectable.

"This has really been a disturbing case."