RETIRED family doctor Roy Murray was behind bars this week after being jailed for six years for indecently assaulting 23 women patients.

The 62-year-old was described as a "healer turned predator" by a judge sentencing him at Liverpool Crown Court.

Some of Murray's victim's were in court to witness their former doctor punished following his conviction on 23 counts of indecently assault patients at the surgery on Liverpool Road, Greenbank.

During a nine-week trial earlier last month the court heard how Murray, of Bromborough, Wirral, committed the assaults on patients between 1981 and 1998.

The jury heard the GP's intimate examinations had lasted as long as 40 minutes, while some patients had internal examinations for apparent routine ailments.

A police investigation began into the doctor after a former patient confided in a counsellor in 2002. More patients then came forward and a helpline was set up by St Helens Primary Care Trust.

Some of Murray's victims have claimed complaints were made to local health chiefs about the doctor's behaviour in the decades prior to a police investigation beginning.

St Helens PCT, which took over from the St Helens Health Authority in 2001, says they passed the issue onto the police as soon as they were made aware of a complaint.

The PCT insist there are no formal records of complaints made against Murray, from documents it inherited from the local health authority.

It is understood victims have met recently to discuss their next steps to challenge health chiefs. Such steps could include legal action.

Notes

Murray, a married father-of-three, denied the charges and said the examinations were necessary because the women were using the contraceptive pill or coil.

But the explanation was not always recorded in his notes.

During the trial he was cleared on two indecent assault counts and the jury failed to reach verdicts on five indecent assault charges.

He was found not guilty of seven indecent assault charges on the judge's directions.

Murray was also ordered to sign on the sex offenders register.