A longstanding GP, caught by police with child pornography, tried to keep his offence secret by volunteering to have his name erased from the medical register, the Oxford Mail can reveal.
Dr David Otterburn – who worked at Abingdon’s Malthouse surgery and was caught with 100 images on his computer – told the doctors’ disciplinary body, the General Medical Council, that a public hearing could have a “catastrophic effect on his family”.
But a GMC fitness to practise panel denied the GP’s request after hearing he hoped to do charitable work at an orphanage in India when he retired.
Last night, one of Otterburn’s former patients spoke of her disgust at his abuse of trust.
Mother-of-three Marjie Binningsley, whose family were treated by Otterburn at the Malthouse Surgery in The Charter, Abingdon, for 25 years, said: “I was told he had suddenly decided to take retirement which was long overdue.
“I was sick, absolutely disgusted, when I found out why he’d gone. My stomach just turned.
“People have been taking their children to see this man for years and he’s been looking at indecent images of children.”
Otterburn was suspended from the medical register for 18 months in February last year, after police referred his case to the GMC.
On April 14, he was cautioned at Abingdon police station after admitting making 100 Level 1 indecent photographs of children, which is the lowest category.
He was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for two years.
Otterburn, of Kennel Lane, Steventon, near Abingdon, was struck off the register permanently after a two-day GMC hearing in November last year.
Minutes of the hearing, obtained by the Oxford Mail yesterday, show that the panel considered “since Dr Otterburn expresses a desire to work in an orphanage and has continued to blame a third party for the matters which led to his caution, he has demonstrated a serious and persistent lack of insight into his actions.”
The panel decided it was necessary, in the public interest, to suspend his registration forthwith.
Otterburn refused to comment yesterday but a statement released by the Medical Protection Society, on his behalf, read: “In his 30 years of practice, Dr Otterburn provided his patients with the highest standard of care.
“He has been distressed by these events and wishes to make no further comment.”
Mrs Binningsley, 28, of Crosslands Drive, Abingdon, added: “I am hurt that I trusted him all my life and I also trusted him with my children.
“The worst thing is he was such a nice bloke.
“It’s the people you least expect.”
A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: “I can confirm a 62-year-old man was cautioned at Abingdon police station for possessing indecent images of children.”
The police spokesman refused to say why charges were never brought against a doctor working with children.
ghamilton@oxfordmail.co.uk
