A highly respected surgeon groped the breasts and bottoms of female colleagues including a doctor and several nurses, a court heard today.
Dr Amal Bose, 55, allegedly pulled down a ward sister’s top, exposing her bra and breasts, and told her: ‘I thought that is where you put my cup of tea.’
On at least two occasions when female staff were on their knees completing a hospital task, a jury heard the ‘rude and arrogant’ surgeon told them: ‘I like it when you are down there.’
‘Creepy’ Dr Bose told one nurse that his fantasy was to tie her up and tried to persuade her to go back to a hotel room to ‘show her a good time’, it was alleged.
However medical staff felt unable to challenge the ‘toxic and sexualised’ culture he created due to his ‘position and authority as a senior consultant’, according to the prosecution.
Instead hospital workers would attempt to dismiss his behaviour by saying ‘That’s just Amal’, the trial heard.
When he was arrested on March 21, 2023, Dr Bose was recorded on police video telling the officer: ‘It was only flirting.’
He went on trial today charged with 14 counts of sexual assault on female colleagues.
Dr Amal Bose arriving at Preston Crown Court today where he faces 14 counts of sexual assault on female colleagues
Respected surgeon Dr Amal Bose allegedly groped the breasts and bottoms of female colleagues including a doctor and several nurses
The surgeon is accused of assaulting six women between 2017 and 2022.
They accuse him of feeling their breasts, slapping their bottoms and, in one case, slipping his hand inside a nurse’s wrap-around skirt to touch her groin, Preston Crown Court heard.
Dr Bose denies all the charges.
The trial heard that doctors at the hospital swapped ‘banter and sexualised joking’ on WhatsApp groups with names such as Cardiac Sluts and Work Slags.
Huw Edwards, prosecuting, told jurors that all the assaults took place at Blackpool Victoria Hospital in Lancashire.
‘This was an abuse of his position and authority as a senior consultant at the hospital,’ he said.
‘It was a toxic and sexualised environment that he created by his behaviour with his sexualised jokes and comments and his slapping nurses’ bottoms and grabbing their breasts.
‘The complainants we have here were employed by the hospital in roles significantly below Dr Bose who were not in a position to challenge his behaviour.
‘It was a toxic and sexualised culture under his leadership.
Surgeon Dr Amal Bose, 55, allegedly told one nurse that his fantasy was to tie her up and tried to persuade her to go back to a hotel room to ‘show her a good time’
Colleagues at Blackpool Victoria Hospital (pictured) were advised to dismiss the surgeon’s alleged behaviour by saying ‘That’s just Amal’, a court heard
‘His behaviour was a well-known fact in the department and new staff were advised on how to deal with it.
‘People would say “that’s just Amal”.’
Mr Edwards said nine of the 14 counts involve the same woman.
Dr Bose allegedly targeted her repeatedly, on occasion ‘flicking’ her breasts, slapping her bottom and making inappropriate comments about how he would like to touch her groin.
The woman, who cannot be identified, ‘struggled’ so much with his behaviour that she asked to be put on a four-day week and only returned to full-time working after Dr Bose was suspended, the prosecutor said.
A nurse claimed Dr Bose told her his fantasy was to tie her up.
One night after a staff party he tried to persuade her to go back to his hotel room where he would ‘show her a good time’, it was alleged.
A ward sister told police she met Dr Bose a corridor and told him she had moved his cup of tea.
He allegedly pulled down her top, exposing her bra and breasts.
When she retorted ‘That’s enough of that’ she said he smirked and told her: ‘I thought that is where you put my cup of tea.’
Dr Amal Bose allegedly created a ‘toxic and sexualised environment’ by groping and slapping colleagues at Blackpool Victoria Hospital
Dr Bose had a leading reputation in his field which made it harder for colleagues to make a complaint against him, Preston Crown Court (pictured) heard today
The court heard that Dr Bose was thought of as a top class doctor with a leading reputation in his field and that this made it harder for people to make a complaint against him.
One junior doctor who worked under him told how she was shocked when he grabbed her breasts from behind.
When she later complained to him about his behaviour he said he could not remember it.
Mr Edwards said the woman later asked to be moved, adding: ‘Tellingly, she did not want to take her compliant further because she feared it might affect her career.
‘He was a man is a position of power.’
Dr Neil Britton, a consultant anaesthetist at the hospital who worked with Dr Bose, told the court he was ‘creepy especially around female members of staff’.
‘I know all workplaces have a level of banter but it was quite different with Dr Bose,’ he said.
‘There was a lot of sexual jokes although I can’t remember exactly what they were.
‘But if he saw that his jokes were making someone uncomfortable it would seem to encourage him.
‘I do know he told me that one female member of staff needed “a good shag”.
‘I remember he would take a lot of young students into his office and they seemed to be always female.’
Dr Britton it ‘made me feel sick’ when he was told what language one member of staff was subjected to.
But he agreed with defending barrister Tom Price KC that ‘banter and sexualised joking’ were part and parcel of many workplace environments, especially in highly pressurized ones like hospitals.
He was also asked if he knew of a WhatsApp group called Cardiac Sluts to which he said: ‘No.’
But he admitted to belonging to another group called Work Slags to which he sent a picture of a camper van which bore the legend Dr Wiggles Weiner Wagon.
He captioned it: ‘Got a picture of Amal’s new car at the weekend.’
Several messages on the group referred directly to Dr Bose but also contained pictures of things like a supposed scented candle called Sweaty Bollocks.
Mr Price said: ‘It shows the level of humour in the department, doesn’t it?’
Dr Britton agreed but said no one in the group was ‘uncomfortable about it’.
Another doctor who gave evidence, Dr Gillian Hardman, told the court that one female colleague told her: ‘The first time he groped me I just went to the bathroom and cried.’
Dr Hardman – who is not one of the alleged victims – described Dr Bose as ‘rude and arrogant’.
She admitted there was some sexual banter on the wards and that it continued on WhatsApp groups like Work Slags.
But she said: ‘I would not belong to any group that Dr Bose was on.’
The trial continues.
