Ex-partners who helped haul Cambridge-educated 'dirty doctor' before a tribunal hail decision to strike him off the medical register and declare: 'Women's voices will be heard'

The ex-partners who helped haul a Cambridge-educated doctor who used his surgery for illicit sex with a string of women have hailed the decision to strike him off the medical register. 

Self confessed sex addict Dr Tom Plimmer, 40, who appeared on Channel 4 show First Dates in 2018, used his consulting room at his surgery in Swindon, Wiltshire, as a haven to have sex with multiple women over a three-year period.

He was also found performing a lewd sex act on himself in the surgery - and was even accused of sexually harassing a junior colleague before telling her to 'visit a suicide booth like they have on Futurama'. 

Some of the women who helped bring Plimmer before the General Medical Council said being struck off was the only way to stop him 'manipulating women to satisfy his own depraved desires'. 

Another declared it a message that 'women's voices will be heard'. 

One former partner who raised a complaint said: 'I think it was the only decision for the safety of women. No woman is going to want him for a GP.

'There is no way that he could ever get back the trust that people have in the medical profession.

'Being a doctor is such a privileged position to hold and you have to be thinking more about your patients than yourself.

'Hopefully he won't have as many opportunities now to be able to manipulate women to satisfy his own depraved desires.'

Another complainant said: 'It's a reassuring decision for so many more people than just the women who had been involved with him both professionally and/or personally. It's a message to a much wider audience that abuse of power will not be tolerated and women's voices will be heard.'

Another of the complainants said: 'The GMCs decision to erase has brought about immense relief to those affected. I am grateful to all the brave women who told their stories and pleased that he can no longer use his position as a doctor to harm others.'

A fourth added: 'Today's decision to erase his licence to practice has brought me a great deal of closure and relief.

'He can no longer hide his awful actions behind being a part of a trusted profession. I want to thank the GMC and medical practitioners tribunal service and I especially want to thank all the other women who came forward.'

Although the 40-year-old GP admitted he'd ruined lives by 'lying and cheating' he fought to save his career at a hearing of the medical industry watchdog, claiming he was a reformed character who had turned to God.

But the women he used for sex in his surgery - sometimes with patients waiting outside to be seen - blasted his claims to have changed as 'a sham'.

Claire Lindley, chairman of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel, delivered the panel's ruling today.

She said: 'Dr Plimmer we have considered your case carefully and we have listened carefully to the submissions made on your behalf.

'However the tribunal has decided your behaviour was fundamentally incompatible with being a doctor and the tribunal has decided to erase your name from the medical register.'

After considering the evidence presented before it over two weeks in September last year, the panel concluded Dr Plimmer was guilty of seven complaints he had denied.

Plimmer used his Swindon surgery to have sex with six women in a period between 2018 and 2021.

He also sent one of the complainants in the case a video showing him having sex with other women and 197 photographs of a similar nature.

The tribunal found he had sent an unsolicited sexual video to a vulnerable colleague he'd been in a relationship with.

He was also found to have been discovered in his office with his trousers undone and performing a sex act on himself while on duty during work hours.

The panel found he had put a colleague's hand on his penis and as things turned sour between them he suggested she kill herself, saying: 'On Futurama they have suicide booths. Maybe that's what you need, you should go and do that.'

It was determined the doctor was fully aware that the woman, described in the hearing only as Colleague A, was vulnerable.

During her allegations she claimed that some of the sexual acts carried out by the doctor on her were not consensual but those allegations were found not to be proven in the panel's decision on Tuesday.

Dr Plimmer admitted that he used the office at his surgery as a convenient spot for his sordid sexual encounters.

He agreed that on January 3 2020 he engaged in a sex act with one of his girlfriends - Miss B - in his GP surgery during working hours and engaged in sexual intercourse with her and another, Miss D, at different times in May that year, also in his surgery.

In February 2021 he sent another woman - Miss E - an unsolicited photo of his penis while he was at work in his surgery.

And on March 7 2021 in a conversation with Miss D he threatened the life of another woman - Miss F - saying 'if that c*** takes me to the GMC I'll slit her throat. I know where she lives.'

Dr Plimmer told the tribunal panel that he was an untreated sex addict and it was that which had led to his behaviour.

During her evidence Colleague A said: 'I have not denied there was a sexually-based dynamic. What I have alleged is that there are other factors that led to me complying with this.'

She told how the GP used his position to coerce her into sexual acts and to send explicit photographs.

Colleague A told the tribunal: 'I said no to touching and he did it, I said no to penetration and he did it, he put my hand on his penis.

'The suggestion Dr Plimmer understands or considers consent? He had all the opportunities in the world for consensual things but all he really values is power.'

She added: 'I was used as an object who kept a sex addict from being bored.'

The complainant had earlier told how Dr Plimmer had confided in her that he was a sex addict.

She told the hearing: 'He would tell me about his untreated sex addiction. He would discuss sex addiction and his concerns around that, his family, his parenting. Those conversations happened.'

The tribunal cleared Dr Plimmer of a number of allegations, including abusing his senior position in his relationship with Colleague A, slamming a door on a colleague's arm, threatening to disclose sensitive information and carrying out actions to exercise control over one of the complainants.

Giving evidence at an earlier hearing, the GP told the medical tribunal that the way he had treated women had been 'disgusting'.

'I betrayed their trust, I disrespected them, I lied and cheated, and there's no excuse,' he told the hearing. 'I feel immense shame for everything I did.'

Cross-examined by Mark Monaghan, counsel for the General Medical Council, Dr Plimmer admitted he was 'guilty of creating a lot of the mess we're here discussing'.

But he insisted he hadn't 'revelled' in upsetting the women or tried to 'manipulate' them.

Denying using his girlfriends for sex, Dr Plimmer insisted he had been seeking 'companionship' – but admitted regularly cheating on them.

Asked by Mr Monaghan if it was 'normal' to be seeing three women at once, Dr Plimmer admitted it was 'abnormal'.

'It was shameful and regrettable, and it's ended up causing a lot of hurt to a lot of people, and it's all my fault,' he said.

Dr Plimmer said the litany of deceit was a consequence of his self-confessed sex addiction, saying: 'You will never see an active addict who isn't also a liar.'

The tribunal – which was taking place through online sessions – previously heard that Dr Plimmer lied about family members including his mother being ill while attempting to 'juggle' his string of girlfriends.

He said: 'I sincerely apologise to the people I've lied to, my mum, brother, friends, colleagues, and of course the inadvertent consequences it's had towards patients and being able to care for them.'