Salisbury surgeon who stored child abuse images in phone gets suspended jail term

A SALISBURY plastic surgeon who stored more than a hundred serious category child abuse images in his phone has been sentenced to eight months of suspended jail term.

Mansoor Khan was in December found guilty of three counts of making indecent images of children after he was found with 106 images on his phone.

Khan, who coached a girls’ rugby team, downloaded an anonymous browser in November 2020 to access the dark web for “abhorrent and perverted” pictures, Salisbury Crown Court heard.

He was identified following a referral to the National Crime Agency as police officers followed a digital trail from a Snapchat account.

When officers confronted him, the 54-year-old father of four claimed he had accessed the dark web to tell his children about its dangers as a 'parental responsibility'.

But investigators found none of the images in his phone was related to his patients or his clinical job at the University Hospital Southampton where he worked from 2012 to 2021.

While sentencing Khan last week, judge Adam Feest, however, noted his “exemplary” personal and professional records.

“The mitigating factors in this case outweigh the aggravating factors”, the judge said.

“Until the events that led you to this court, you spent a lot of time dedicated to the local rugby team. I have heard about you as a husband and father. Your wife and children remain supportive to you in full knowledge of your conviction.”

“It is against this background that I must regrettably sentence you for making indecent images of children,” Judge Feest.

“I am able to impose a suspended sentence” because of the “real prospect of rehabilitation”, the judge said.

The surgeon has been prevented from being in contact with children and placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.