Married Doctor guilty of Affair with Work Experience Student

A married doctor from Bramhall, near Stockport, has been found guilty of having an affair with a teenage work experience student and now faces being struck off.

Dr Shakil Malik, aged 47, also made unwanted sexual advances towards an undergraduate student.

The two students, known as Miss A and Miss B, had been referred to Malik between October 2018 and August 2019 while he was working for the NHS in Manchester in geriatric rehabilitation and emergency medicine.

Miss A, then aged 17, was on work experience at Fairfield Hospital in Bury when she said the doctor sent her explicit texts saying he “wanted to kiss her and would never leave her”.

He would also refer to her as his “wife, Mrs Malik” and a “princess”.

The father-of-three offered to buy her a birthday present before transferring £66 to her bank account.

He later transferred £100 so she could book a hotel room where he subsequently performed a sex act on Miss A.

Malik also sent her sexual texts. He asked her to send a picture “without your gown” and offered to give her a “bum massage”. In one message, he said she could do her “favourite suction”.

Malik later made advances towards a 22-year-old medicine student at Sheffield University while she was on a 12-week work placement.

He invited Miss B to attend a conference in London and told her to keep it confidential. However, she refused the offer, claiming Malik had a “creepy smile” which made her feel “uncomfortable”.

When told she had a boyfriend, the doctor asked her: “Is it serious? Do you live with him? Can I be your best friend? Every girl should be treated like a princess.”

Malik was arrested on suspicion of sexual activity with Miss A but no further action was taken.

Miss B spoke to another work experience student and her brother before reporting Malik to NHS officials organising her placement.

Malik admitted an affair with Miss A but denied making sexual remarks towards Miss B.

The doctor was found guilty of sexually motivated misconduct at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester.

Miss Chloe Fairley, a lawyer for the General Medical Council, said:

“Miss A was a 17-year-old on a college placement and had been entrusted to Dr Malik’s care and supervision.

“Dr Malik initiated the sexualised element of his contact with both Miss A and Miss B.

“He had pressurised Miss A into sending him naked photographs of herself, had bought her gifts and paid for a hotel room in which he hoped for a sexual encounter.

“Dr Malik’s interest in Miss A had been sexual from the start. The fallacy of his attempts to minimise the seriousness of his behaviour and his attempts to portray himself as the victim of feminine wiles were exposed by the volume and sexualised content of the messages exchanged between him and Miss A.

“His misconduct was further exacerbated by his sexually motivated behaviour towards Miss B, who was also under his supervision.”

Miss B had previously told the Tribunal: “I felt that day the way he acted was bizarre and I have never heard of a consultant acting like that. I thought he was unprofessional. When he smiled at me, it made me feel uncomfortable.

“I didn’t like the way he smiled at me. I don’t want to use the word creepy but it was.

“I don’t know how to explain somebody’s smile but it made me feel uncomfortable.”

Miss A did not give any evidence.

Ghazan Mahmood, for Malik, said: “Dr Malik was very flattered by the attention he received from Miss A and there was a mutual attraction between them.

“Everything that happened between them was entirely consensual. Miss A clearly intended to form a relationship and that there had been a rapid escalation on both their parts.

“Miss A became 18 years of age during the relevant period and there was no vulnerability apart from her age.

“With regard to Miss B, apart from a 20-minute conversation, it is not being claimed that Dr Malik pursued her in any way.”

Mr Mahmood added: “Dr Malik is on a journey of self-reflection and there is evidence of insight and remediation through his attendance on courses and in his reflections, although he accepted that more needs to be done.

“He is embarrassed, genuinely ashamed and remorseful – the Tribunal can be satisfied that he is on a significant journey and that risk of repetition is very low.”

Tribunal chairman Graham White said: “The Tribunal considers there remains a high risk of repetition. Dr Malik’s sexually motivated behaviour would have been unacceptable in any supervisory role.

“Such conduct amounts to an abuse of a position of power and he has brought the medical profession into disrepute.

“He has breached more than one of the fundamental tenets of the medical profession through the abuse of his role in relation to both Miss A and Miss B in pursuit of sexual gratification.”

The Daily Mail reported that the married doctor now faces being struck off at a further disciplinary hearing in December 2020.