Sheffield pervert led double-life as a doctor for 34 years

Father-of-two Stewart Edwards, 65, told police he had been posing as a doctor since 1976. He had been visiting one unsuspecting family for 10 years without suspicion, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Edwards toured areas of the city to select specifically Asian women to whom he was attracted, and carried out assaults on women and children of both sexes.

When he was finally arrested he told police: “You’ve got me. I’m not a real doctor. I’ve tried this before.”

He later added: “I’m glad you caught me. This would have got worse.”

Edwards, of Dore, Sheffield, was jailed for four years after admitting 13 offences - five indecent assaults, two sexual assaults on a child, three counts of sexual activity with a child, one of sexual assault with a male, and two of sexual assault with two separate women - against three victims over a 10-year period between 2000 and 2010.

Samantha Thompson, prosecuting, said: “Stewart Edwards led a double life. To most he was a retired civil servant, a family man and an upstanding member of society, and to others he was their trusted GP.

“In reality Edwards was a predatory offender who thrived on his ability to deceive.”

She said Edwards “posed as a GP, began targeting Asian families”, and gained access to their homes to carry out physical examinations.

Miss Thompson said he would drive around looking for women who caught his eye, and admitted using a notebook to jot down ‘potential targets’. He said he also went to the library to pick out women from the electoral roll.

When arrested, Edwards was carrying a briefcase containing medical equipment, a folder full of medical questionnaires, and a notebook detailing Sheffield addresses with Asian names marked beside house numbers.

Some of the names had comments beside them, including: “A very tasty daughter at college. A tasty wife. Tasty.”

The court heard one of the boys in the family Edwards had been seeing for a decade believes he was physically examined by the phoney GP 20 times. The boy, now 17, was naked on more than one occasion.

Edwards was finally arrested in August last year after trying to arrange an appointment with a woman he had examined the month before.

After the first examination she contacted her local doctor’s surgery to ask if they knew a Dr Evans - the name he used. The surgery had no knowledge of him and the police were contacted.

When he phoned her the next month to arrange another appointment at her home, the police were waiting and followed him in.

Sentencing him, Judge Simon Lawler QC said Edwards had admitted going into ‘the homes of many people, in a period going back to the late 1970s’.

The court heard Edwards began his deception after the birth of his second child, when his marriage became sexless.

Miss Thompson said pretending to be a GP ‘gave him some relief, as he could talk about sexual matters’.

He was also made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order.