Ex-doctor admits running mobile circumcision service where kids were left with 'emotional and physical scars'

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A disgraced former doctor has shockingly confessed to inflicting "painful cruelty to children" by providing a mobile circumcision service from the back of his van.

Mohammad Siddiqui, 58, from Birmingham, initially started offering circumcisions while still a practising doctor, making house calls for the procedures.

Having been suspended and eventually struck off by the General Medical Council (GMC), Siddiqui shockingly persisted with his practice, flaunting basic hygiene standards and showing a "complete disregard" for patient safety.

On Tuesday, he entered guilty pleas at Southwark Crown Court to a shocking 25 charges this included 12 counts of actual bodily harm, five instances of child cruelty, and eight cases of illegally administering prescription-only medicine, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) disclosed.

Over the period from June 2012 to November 2013, Siddiqui operated a roving private circumcision service, even obtaining anaesthetic drugs during his time in paediatric surgery at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.

He crisscrossed the country, taking appointments to carry out non-medical male circumcisions on children as old as 14 years.

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Siddiqui's medical registration was revoked in 2015 by the GMC following a tribunal's findings of numerous failings in conducting the circumcisions at the residences of four infants.

Nevertheless, he brazenly continued his dubious enterprise because the area of non-therapeutic male circumcision remains unregulated, not mandating a qualified medical professional.

The CPS has condemned the circumcisions performed by Siddiqui as being carried out in "unsafe, unsanitary and harmful ways", which they say shows a "blatant disregard to the safety of his young patients".

Anja Hohmeyer from the CPS stated: "Siddiqui practised these circumcising acts in an unsafe and unsanitary environment and so meted out painful cruelty to children leaving them with emotional and physical scars."

"He showed a complete disregard for the impact of his actions on his victims, families, and communities."

Detective Chief Superintendent Fiona Bitters of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary expressed her hope: "I hope his pleas today help to bring some comfort to his victims who have had to wait many years to see justice served for his actions."

Siddiqui is set to receive his sentence at Southwark Crown Court on January 14, 2025.

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