Jailed Indian doctor 'may be deported'

BBC News:

A doctor convicted on internet child pornography charges faces being struck off the medical register on his release, a court has heard.

Biju Rama Mohannan Nair Mohan was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court to one year's imprisonment.

Mohan pleaded guilty to downloading 3,000 images of child pornography.

He was arrested last year during a Metropolitan Police investigation into the distribution and movement of indecent internet images of children.

Mohan, a 38-year-old orthopaedic registrar, from Glebe Road West, Newtownabbey, pleaded guilty to 32 sample charges of downloading more than 3,000 images of child pornography between 1999 and 2004.

He also admitted one separate specific charge of distributing images, "with a person of similar interests" between June 1999 and July 2,000.

"Overall, he was involved, on the calculations of police, in the downloading, possession and retention of 3,535 images," said prosecuting lawyer John Creaney.

"It is important that his admissions were made spontaneously and frankly at interview."

Passing sentence, Judge Patrick Lynch said that according to probation and psychological reports, Mohan did not present a danger to children, but some of the images he had downloaded were "so serious that only a custodial sentence was appropriate".

Judge Lynch said Mohan, whose wife and two children have already returned to India, most certainly "will be struck off for life" by the doctors' ruling General Medical Council.

"It is tragic that in this case someone of your capacity to give so much to this community has besmirched that situation to the extent that you will never again be able to practice in this community," the judge said.

Defence lawyer Eilish McDermott said Mohan had committed the offences "at a time when he was facing great stress and anxiety for his future and became depressed".

Ms McDermott said Mohan recognised that what he had done was inexcusable, but instead of seeking help for his condition, he took refuge in the internet, initially accessing adult pornography sites and then child internet sites.

Belfast doctor jailed for a year