A consultant urologist pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children between 9 September and 17 October, 2023, at Kingston Crown Court on Thursday (3 July).

The Consultant cancer specialist, Paul Sturch, 41, blamed the Coronavirus pandemic for making him exhausted after being caught downloading explicit images of underage girls - some as young as four, according to the Mirror.

The paper says that Sturch received a suspended prison sentence on Thursday and will also face professional disciplinary proceedings for his actions.

It writes: "The doctor, who treats prostate cancer, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children between September 9 and October 17, 2023.

"Police raided Sturch's apartment in Hitch Quay, Wandsworth, south London, after he was identified chatting online with an undercover officer concerning his interest in girls aged four years old and up.

"When his address was searched, the doctor was seen attempting to tamper with or destroy a memory stick on which images were found, prosecutor Jonathan Gold told Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court."

According to the Mirror, the prosecutor said: "His address was searched, and he was seen attempting to tamper with or destroy a memory stick on which images were found along with a white iPhone.

"There are some aggravating features, the ages of some of the children are quite young, some are as young as four years old."

The court heard that Sturch's mental health deteriorated while working on the medical frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic - and Simon Ray KC, defending, told Judge Anne Brown: "The General Medical Council (GMC) are aware and a custodial sentence would almost certainly end his career, but not if you follow the recommendation of the pre-sentence report of a community sentence."