Former doctor spared jail over sex messages
AFORMER doctor who messaged a 12-year-old decoy online under the username ‘Sexy Doctor’ has been spared jail.
Umar Tahir, aged 38, spoke with the ‘girl’ on the messaging site Kik, without realising he was speaking to an undercover police officer.
The locum GP asked the girl how old she was, then said her profile picture was ‘hot,’ Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
As the conversation grew more sexual, he described ‘graphic details’ of sexual intercourse and asked if she ‘thought about them.’
Tahir, of Rochdale, then asked the girl to delete the messages so she ‘wouldn’t get into trouble.’
He was later traced through his IP address and arrested.
Pleading guilty to being an adult attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child at an earlier hearing, he was sentenced to eight months imprisonment which was suspended for two years.
Outlining the facts, prosecutor Rachel White told the court the conversations began on May 19 last year.
She explained this was as a result of an investigation by the police into the identification of sexual predators against children online.
“The officer used a profile and picture of a 12-yearold girl,” Ms White said.
“The defendant used Kik as a way to communicate with the ‘child,’ under the username of ‘sexy doctor.’
“His account had been active for 675 days.
“On May 20 of last year he sent a message to the decoy.
“’She’ asked how old he was and he told her he would only say if she promised not to tell anyone else.
“She said she was twelve and lived in Manchester, and he said he was 37.
“He then described her profile picture as ‘hot.’”
The court heard Tahir asked the girl for a picture of herself, before stating her ‘legs looked good’ in a dress. He then asked her if she was wearing a bra and spoke in graphic details about sexual acts and penetrative sexual intercourse, it was said.
Tahir asked the girl if she was using her own device or her mum’s, and told her to delete the messages between them.
“He then mentioned the previous sexual acts and raised if she would have done them,” Ms White added.
“The conversation ended but the defendant messaged her again on May 26 asking her whether she thought about the matters they spoke about previously, she said they had been raised by another user and he became discouraged from continuing any further.”
Tahir’s Samsung phone was seized and interrogated where further sexual conversations were discovered.
There were also a number of ‘groups’ he was a part of, including ‘Teen schoolgirls,’ ‘Teen body,’ ‘Daddy and Princess’ and ‘Teen snow bunny.’
He has since been suspended from work and is awaiting proceedings in front of a tribunal, the court was told.
In mitigation, his defence lawyer Simon Gurney told the court: “In any way these are very serious offences which the defendant is rightly ashamed and deeply embarrassed.
“He has led a law-abiding life, has played a professional role and acted as a volunteer in the community in various projects.
“He has taken steps so there is no repetition, and he expresses his regret and disgust about his behaviour.
“He says he began in his teen years talking on online chat rooms out of emotional and cultural differences and it became a habit that he continued throughout his life.
“He also said in May last year he went through personal and professional distress, namely that he contracted covid, he left his partnership at work due to burn out and was under great financial stress and his marriage was under strain. He tells me he was in an emotionally unstable place and wasn’t thinking clearly.”
Mr Gurney told the court his client has since received counselling.
Tahir, of Cecil Street, was ordered to do 200 hours’ unpaid work and 30 days of rehabilitation activity requirements.
He was also made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years, as well as pay £425 court costs.