A heart doctor who worked at Lewisham Hospital has been cleared of sexually assaulting three women during medical examinations.

Dr Sumit Basu, 59, was accused of assaulting the women over an eight-year period in his role as a senior consultant cardiologist at the hospital.

The three women claimed he touched their naked breasts, including one young woman while her mother was sat in the same room. Two women claimed that he performed unnecessary internal examinations on them.

But Dr Basu, of Ringmore Rise in Lewisham, said it was normal medical procedure and that a doctor couldn't look at a complaint “in isolation”.

He denied any wrongdoing and was cleared of three counts of assault by penetration and seven counts of sexual assault between 2006 and 2014 at Woolwich Crown Court today (September 26).

Dr Basu did not react as the verdict was read out, but his wife wept in the public gallery.

The first complainant, who was in her early 20s at the time and a student, went to police after a painful internal examination left her in tears.

Her complaint prompted two other women to come forward when they saw it reported in the news.

One said she was instructed by Dr Basu to completely remove the clothes on her upper body just to have her blood pressure taken. She also claimed he assaulted her while her mother was in the consultation room on the other side of the curtain.

The third woman said Dr Basu rubbed her breasts, before performing a double internal examination in a follow-up appointment.

She had suffered chest pains and later stomach problems and the defendant told her the issues “could all be connected” and required an internal exam.

The complainants were aged between 18 and 28 at the time of the assaults and were not known to one another.

The jury acquitted Dr Basu after six hours and 40 minutes of deliberations.