THE trial of a doctor alleged to have carried out sex attacks on patients at his Dudley surgery has been adjourned until the new year.

Eight victims claim they were sexually assaulted at Jaswant Rathore’s Castle Meadows surgery between November 2008 and March 2015.

Prosecutors have alleged the doctor, a GP for nearly 30 years, carried out the sex attacks under the cover of treatment for a variety of medical problems.

The 60-year-old, of Ploughmans Walk, Wall Heath, however, denies all 18 charges levied against him and maintains he was providing appropriate medical care.

He told Wolverhampton Crown Court he had given "manipulative therapy" to one woman who went to see him complaining about back pain.

She later reported the doctor had massaged her right buttock but he stressed in evidence he had been checking which areas of muscles around her spine were tender.

He told the jury. "There are joints in the upper part of the buttock. If you are touching or pressing them they may believe you are touching the bottom."

Heidi Kubik, prosecuting, has alleged the doctor also carried out an inappropriate examination on the same woman for sexual reasons after she complained of abdominal pains.

But Rathore, a former clinical lead on Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group, insisted he was administering the right and proper treatment for her problems.

The trial has now been adjourned until January 2 when the case will be summed up and the jury will retire to consider the evidence.