April 2009

Patients of paedophile doctor are sickened by his child porn crimes

PATIENTS of a Derbyshire GP jailed for possessing nearly 90,000 indecent images of children have said they are “sickened” and “appalled” by his crimes.

Robert Manley was jailed for three years on Friday after police in Poland helped snare the 46-year-old using technology which tracks computers as indecent material is distributed.

The father-of-one, who qualified as a doctor in 1985, became a senior doctor at Brooklyn Medical Practice, in Mansfield Road, Heanor, in the early 1990s and began collecting the images five years ago.

One of his patients, Michael Underhay, said he had eight grandchildren who lived in Heanor and all had been treated by Manley at the surgery. The 60-year-old said he was “disgusted” that Manley had been in possession of the images, including 342 rated as category five – the most serious type.

He said: “In my opinion, what he’s been up to is disgusting and sick.”

Mr Underhay, who has lived in the area for 30 years, said Manley had brought shame to a quiet community.

He said he had never liked Manley but kept going to the practice because other staff there were “perfect”.

“The practice itself is excellent but I was never confident in Dr Manley,” he said.

“He never seemed interested in dealing with problems. He would always say ‘there’s nothing wrong with you – take some aspirin and go home and rest’.”

Some of the images showed children as young as two-and-a-half and Mr Underhay said he was pleased Manley was now behind bars.

He said: “Whenever my grandchildren have gone to the doctors one of our family members has gone with them.

“I dread to think what would have happened if they had gone on their own.”

Other residents in Heanor said Manley, a father-of-one himself, deserved a longer prison term.

Mathew Gibbons, 27, of Howitt Street, said three years was not long enough.

“Children need protecting from perverts like him,” he said.

“He should have got at least double that sentence. He’ll probably be out at the end of 2010 – that’s not justice.”

A recently-retired teacher, who worked with special-needs children, said the thought of Manley seeing vulnerable youngsters in his role as a GP was a “nightmare” scenario.

She said: “I think it’s terribly shocking and like everyone around here I’m appalled.

“To think he was working with children is worrying.

“He would have had all the safety checks but still managed to get away with it for a long time – but that’s how cunning these people are.”

Another resident described the case as “atrocious”.

Referring to the 89,515 images found on Manley’s computers, discs and hard drives, he said: “It should never have been allowed to get that far.

“This isn’t something you expect to happen on your own doorstep.”

Health bosses have confirmed that Manley will be struck off the medical register and will never work as a doctor in the UK again.