'Cruel' Birmingham ex-doctor left teen bleeding and needing surgery after mobile circumcision

Mohammad Siddiqui, 58, caused children 'unnecessary pain and suffering' by using a rusty medical instrument and insufficient pain relief during procedures, a court heard

A “cruel” former doctor who ran a mobile circumcision service caused children “unnecessary pain and suffering” by using a rusty medical instrument and insufficient pain relief during procedures, a court heard. Mohammad Siddiqui, 58, was a practising doctor when he started visiting homes by appointment to carry out circumcisions, his trial was told.

He was suspended and later struck off by the General Medical Council (GMC), but continued to carry out circumcisions, Southwark Crown Court heard. Siddiqui, from Birmingham, carried out his procedures “as quickly as possible to maximise profits”, prosecutor Ben Douglas-Jones KC said.

He “cut corners” and “caused unnecessary pain, suffering, cruelty and risk”. After his arrest, police found a number of medical instruments in Siddiqui’s car, including one with a “hook and serrated wheel showing signs of rust… and skin on it”, the court heard.

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They also found a “circumcision immobiliser” in the back of his Toyota, a device used to hold children in place during circumcisions and considered unacceptable in NHS practice. Subsequent testing revealed many of Siddiqui’s instruments had not been properly sterilised, Mr Douglas-Jones said.

Siddiqui, who operated in Muslim communities, used anaesthetic cream on some of his patients, but often began procedures just “a few minutes” after administering it, jurors were told. A boy who was 15 when he was circumcised by Siddiqui was left with “a lot of bleeding” and had to be taken to hospital by ambulance for surgery, the court heard.

In a pre-recorded police interview played to the court, the boy, who cannot be named, said the bleeding started about 20 to 30 minutes after the former doctor had left his home. The boy’s mother tried to call Siddiqui for help, but he “wouldn’t pick up”, the court heard.

Siddiqui was booked to circumcise the boy as well as his younger brothers, then aged six and three, for “religious reasons”, jurors heard. He arrived with medical equipment and sheets, and carried out the procedures on a table after applying an anaesthetic cream, the court heard.

The boy told officers Siddiqui had charged about £150 to £200 to circumcise his brothers, and “£300-plus” for him because he was older. The children were advised by Siddiqui to use Vaseline if they were “sore after”, the court heard.

The boy, who was left needing stitches, said: “I trusted that he was a proper doctor, so I didn’t have any worries.” When interviewed by police in 2019, Siddiqui, who specialised in circumcisions when he was a practising doctor, said he had carried out 1,200 to 1,500 such procedures since 2012, the court heard.

He told police it was sometimes “difficult to know” if anaesthetic cream was working because babies might cry for “a number of reasons”. Siddiqui, who is representing himself, asked the judge if he could address the jury after Mr Douglas-Jones had finished delivering his opening.

Judge Noel Lucas KC told the former doctor he had “no right” to do so “at this time” before jurors were asked to leave the courtroom. Siddiqui carried his laptop and document bundles in a carboard box to bring them in and out of the courtroom, and was accompanied by a prison guard.

He denies 39 charges including 17 counts of actual bodily harm, 14 of child cruelty and eight of administering a prescription-only medicine between 2014 and 2019. The charges relate to 23 incidents against as many complainants.

(Proceeding)