Lewisham Hospital Pic: Juan Luis Passarelli

A cardiologist in Lewisham has been accused of touching female patients inappropriately during appointments.

Woolwich Crown Court was told that Dr Sumit Basu, 59, had relied on his patients’ “naivety and their trust in him as their doctor to abuse them for his own sexual gratification”.

Hanna Llewellyn-Waters, prosecuting, said: “It is the prosecution case that, during consultations with the complainants, the defendant abused his position of trust as their doctor in order to sexually assault them.”

Basu, who was working as a consultant cardiologist for the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust at the time, denies three charges of assault by penetration and seven counts of sexual assault.

The court heard how the three victims, aged between 18-24, found the examinations “odd, uncomfortable and upsetting”. One of the victims, who was 18 at the time, later complained to police and two more women then came forward, the jury heard. Basu is said to have touched the naked breasts of the women, and carried out internal examinations on two.

Basu, of Ringmore Rise, Lewisham, assured his victims that he was “acting in accordance with their care” during the alleged incidents between 2006 and 2014, the court heard.

The trial continues.