A Lewisham doctor relied on the naivety and trust of his patients to allow him to sexually assault them, a court has heard.

Dr Sumit Basu has gone on trial accused of touching three women inappropriately during medical appointments over an eight-year period.

The 59-year-old consultant cardiologist, who worked at Lewisham Hospital, denies three charges of assault by penetration and seven counts of sexual assault.

He is said to have touched the naked breasts of all three women, and carried out internal examinations on two of them, "under the guise of a medical examination".

Prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters told the jury at Woolwich Crown Court: "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."

She added: "He relied upon their naivety and their trust in him as their doctor to abuse them for his own sexual gratification."

One of the victims, who was 18 when in Dr Basu's care, later complained to police and, after the charge was reported in the news, two more women came forward, the jury heard.

The victims, who were aged between 18 and 28 and are not known to each other, had found the examinations carried out by the senior doctor "odd, uncomfortable and upsetting", Ms Llewellyn-Waters told the court.

She said they had not complained at the time because they trusted the medical professional and had been assured by him that he was "acting in accordance with their care" during the alleged incidents between 2006 and 2014.

A bespectacled Dr Basu, of Ringmore Rise, Lewisham, appeared in the dock wearing a brown suit, lilac shirt and purple tie.

The trial is expected to last around three weeks.