September 2013 Pervert doctor Barend Delport jailed for six years after molesting female patients, including children, at Oaks Surgery in Swanley A pervert doctor who molested female patients, including children, and took indecent photographs during intimate examinations has been jailed for six years. South African-born Dr Barend Delport was said to have hidden behind a “cloak of professionalism” so he could subject his victims, one less than two years old, to inappropriate and unnecessary medical inspection. More than 5,500 indecent photographs of children, include ones of his young patients, were found among a total of 500,000 pornographic and voyeurism images found on computer equipment at his former home in Eynsford. They portrayed abuse at levels one to five, with five being the most serious, although the vast majority were level one. The 55-year-old GP, who practised at The Oaks Surgery in Swanley, admitted sexually abusing three children and three adults, all female. A fourth adult patient came forward as a result of publicity following his appearance at Maidstone Crown Court in August when he pleaded guilty to a total of 26 offences. These included five charges of sexual assault, one of indecent assault, one of sexual activity with a girl under 16, 12 of taking an indecent photograph of a child, five of making an indecent photograph of a child and two of possessing an indecent photograph of a child They occurred between 2003 and 2012. One of the sexual assault victims was aged between 18 months and two years, while the oldest was in her 60s. He referred to another of his young victims as his “little girlfriend” and would give her money and sweets At today’s sentencing hearing, Delport asked for two offences of indecent assault committed in 2002 and in relation to the fourth female adult to be taken into consideration. Delport denied three offences of misconduct in public office and they were not proceeded with. Prosecutor Anthony Haycroft explained that because taking intimate photographs of adults is not covered by a specific law, the prosecution decided it was not in the public interest to pursue the misconduct charges. Delport sat in the dock with his head bowed throughout much of the hearing. The court was packed with members of the public, including one victim and another victim’s mother. Outlining the case, Mr Haycroft described it as involving the grossest breach of trust by Delport towards his patients He explained that although there was sexual motivation, it was an unusual aspect of the case that sexual gratification was gained through the taking of the photographs rather than the touching itself. However, he told the court that had Delport not been a doctor he would not have been able to commit the offences. “His motivation was clearly sexual and cloaked with spurious and unfounded medical justification.” The allegations came to light when one child victim saw Delport last year suffering from ‘belly-ache’. The GP took intimate photographs of the girl without her mother’s permission. She later reported the incident and Delport was arrested. The victim’s mother had asked Delport to delete the photographs but they were later found on his computer. The court was told that the mother was able to identify them as they also showed her hands and jewellery. Other reasons Delport gave for carrying out the examinations and taking photographs included training purposes, to show the healing process, for his own research as a specialist and for lecturing purposes. He also claimed he was compiling evidence regarding poor care by midwives at Darent Valley Hospital. The court heard this was another lie. One of his adult victims later told police Delport had touched what he described as “the magic button” while taking her intimate photographs of her.  Delport will also be on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely. August 2013 Disgraced GP took indecent pictures of children at his surgery… then told police they were for ‘training purposes’ A married GP and Christian leader has admitted sexually assaulting child patients as young as 18 months and taking indecent photos of them during medical examinations. Dr Barend Delport, 55, also pleaded guilty to having 500,000 indecent images of children on his computer, including some at category five, the most serious level. Police said the South-African born doctor had committed ‘an appalling and gross breach of trust’ during his nine-year reign of abuse. A court heard he indecently assaulted three girls, aged 14, four and 18 months, and three women, at his surgery in Swanley, Kent, between 2003 and 2012. He was stopped only after a mother asked why her young daughter had been intimately examined and photographed by Delport when she had complained of a stomach ache. Friends of the family GP and Baptist church elder expressed their shock that he had committed such ‘despicable crimes’ while hiding behind a facade of respectability. Yesterday he pleaded guilty to 26 sexual offences at Maidstone Crown Court as members of his former church, Eynsford Baptist Church, and a neighbouring church packed the public gallery for the plea hearing. Anthony Haycroft, prosecuting, said: ‘The defendant has pleaded guilty now to three offences of sexually assaulting children and three offences of sexually assaulting adults, as well as a plethora of offences for possessing, making and taking indecent images of children. ‘He had thousands of images downloaded from the internet of children and hundreds of images of child patients that he himself has taken. The crown regards these offences as of the utmost severity.’ Delport persuaded parents that he needed to conduct a genital examination of their children, before taking graphic images of the young patients. After police received a complaint in March, a letter was sent to every patient at The Oaks surgery urging them to get in touch if they had concerns. It provoked a string of similar allegations, spanning a decade. Delport initially tried to claim that the images of patients were for ‘training purposes’ or because it was ‘the worst he had ever seen’ of a particular illness. Shortly after his arrest, Delport resigned from the surgery and fled the £500,000 three-bedroom home he shared with his wife Sally in the village of Eynsford. Friends said he had been warned by police to leave the area because he could be targeted by the families of victims. Delport attended religious conferences in Canada and even wrote a book published in 2008, called Interpreting Visions, Dreams And Symbols From A Biblical Perspective. A source said: ‘People trusted him with their lives to guide them and give them advice when, all along, he was a paedophile. He believed God would talk to him directly about what was wrong with a patient. No one can believe what was actually going on. It is shocking.’ Friends said Delport earned more than £100,000 a year and enjoyed spending his money on golfing holidays, clothes and technology. The GP will remain in prison until sentencing next month. Judge Martin Joy told him there would be ‘an inevitable, lengthy custodial sentence’. Delport has already been suspended by the General Medical Council and is expected to be struck off the medical register following sentencing.