Former doctor admits causing harm during child circumcision operations

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A former doctor has admitted causing “painful cruelty to children” by running a mobile circumcision service.

Mohammad Siddiqui, 58, from Birmingham, was a practising doctor when he started visiting homes by appointment to carry out circumcisions.

He was suspended and later struck off but continued the circumcisions anyway, which “ignored” basic hygiene rules and showed “complete disregard” to the health of his patients.

On Tuesday he pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to 25 charges including 12 counts of actual bodily harm, five of child cruelty and eight of administering a prescription-only medicine, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Between June 2012 and November 2013, Siddiqui ran a private mobile circumcision service and sourced anaesthetic while working in paediatric surgery at the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.

He travelled around the UK and by appointment performed non-therapeutic male circumcisions on patients up to the age of 14.

In 2015, Siddiqui was struck off the GMC register after a panel of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service found him guilty of failures in performing non-therapeutic male circumcisions in the homes of four babies.

He continued his service because non-therapeutic male circumcision is unregulated and not required to be carried out by a medical practitioner.

The circumcisions occurred in “unsafe, unsanitary and harmful ways”, demonstrating a “blatant disregard to the safety of his young patients”, the CPS said.

Anja Hohmeyer of the CPS said: “Siddiqui practised these circumcising acts in an unsafe and unsanitary environment and so meted out painful cruelty to children leaving them with emotional and physical scars.

“He showed a complete disregard for the impact of his actions on his victims, families, and communities.”

Detective Chief superintendent Fiona Bitters from Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary said: “I hope his pleas today help to bring some comfort to his victims who have had to wait many years to see justice served for his actions.”

Siddiqui will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on January 14 2025.