A DOCTOR'S career is in ruins after he was jailed for sexually assaulting a woman during a private examination.

The patient was reduced to tears after Shahid Ayyoub undid her bra and began massaging her with oil during a 50 minute examination for whiplash injuries after an accident.

When he was arrested he said any contact with her breasts during the examination was accidental and denied pushing her head into his groin area.

Normally such an examination would take around 15 minutes and would not involve such contact.

The 57-year-old, who practised in Merseyside and did some work for St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, was unanimously found guilty by a jury at Leeds Crown Court of two sexual assaults on the woman at an examination room in the city on June 12, 2012.

Jailing Dr Ayyoub, from Walsham Gardens, Sutton Heath, for 12 months Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said it was a gross breach of trust: “While she lay on the couch in that examination room you touched the side of her breasts.

"It is clear that caused deep concern and the jury have found it was intentional and sexual.

“You then left the room and returned a short while later having seen another patient and over a period of time much to the distress of your victim you repeatedly rubbed your hand over her breasts under her clothing.

“What you did in your capacity as a doctor undermines public confidence in the medical profession.”

He said that Ayyoub had shown no remorse and while he accepted it was an aberration in an otherwise unblemished career “it was not a momentary one”.

Judge Marson ordered him to sign the Sex offenders register for ten years and pay £2,275 in costs.

Mukhtar Hussain QC defending said that the conviction will have devastating consequences for Ayyoub as he now faces being struck off.

He added that Ayyoub came from a highly respectable family which included six other doctors and his two sons were currently studying medicine at university.

Ayyoub who qualified from the University of Punjab in Pakistan in 1984 is not currently suspended by the General Medical Council but an investigation is underway.

However he is subject to strict conditions which include preventing him from examining a female patient unless in a life threatening emergency.

He must also notify the GMC if he accepts a post which he must register with the GMC and tell them of any formal disciplinary proceedings taken against him.

He must also inform the council if he applies for any medical employment outside the UK.

A spokesperson for St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "In the past, Dr Ayyoub has worked at the Trust for one 4 hour session a week. 

"After he was charged he did not  perform clinical duties and had no contact with patients at the Trust. 

"The Trust was unable to take disciplinary action until after the court case concluded."