An evil doctor will be spending years in prison after his crimes were exposed following a campaign of vile abuse.
Following multiple trials, Dr Wayne Davis was convicted of carrying out abuse on two of his patients. Legal restrictions meant that the case could not be fully reported until its conclusion.
As he begins his eight-year jail term, the Manchester Evening News has looked into the background of the case. The highly-respected doctor that people were told to trust Working as a GP in Salford. A large number of his patients were from the same community, and were advised by the elders to see him for their health problems.
When the first woman – who cannot be named for legal reasons – visited Dr Davis, she was just married, and had recently moved up to the north west. As a member of the Chassidic orthodox Jewish community, she strictly observed her faith.
As a child, she was not taught about sex and could not learn about sexual matters from books, the television or the internet. She would take advice about every aspect of her life from the Rabbis, as was the tradition. There were clear rules about dating, and once engaged, advice about sex was given by same sex members of the community.
In her own words, she was ‘naïve’ before getting married to her husband in the 2000s. The day before her wedding, she went to see Dr Davis, with her mother. He prescribed her medication to ensure she wasn’t menstruating when she got married. However, afterwards, she found sex painful.
Dr Wayne Davis was jailed for eight years(Image: GMP)
She was advised to visit the doctor but initially refused. The issues continued and she went back to Dr Davis with her mum. Her mum asked if she had suffered a miscarriage. “No it’s not – it’s the bedroom,” he told her. Embarrassed and intimidated by his abruptness, she didn’t ask what he meant.
Still experiencing pain, she was urged to return, and was told she must trust Dr Davis. She would later tell the police she felt like she had to behave like a ‘good girl’, and follow the advice. She went alone, as nobody was available to go with her. There was no chaperone, and the doctor would shut the door when she attended. Her religion did not allow for her to be alone with anyone from the opposite sex, except her husband.
Without explanation, he told her he was going to ‘stretch’ her. No medical tools were used during the interaction. He told her to lie down and remove her lower clothing before molesting her, with the woman describing him to be like a ‘whisk with his fingers’. It was painful, and Dr Davis did not explain what he was doing or why he was doing it.
“She felt traumatised by what happened. She knew what happened felt wrong and bad,” prosecutor Vanessa Thomson told a court, but was haunted by the experience.
It was frowned upon within the community to make negative comments about people, so she did not report it. She didn’t go back to see the doctor until she fell pregnant and changed GP when she was prescribed contraception years later.
She never spoke of what happened, and was worried about speaking out against such a well-respected man. It was only when she confided in her beauty therapist that she garnered the courage to speak out. With no knowledge of the court system, she was assisted by a charity for those with similar trauma within the Jewish community.
It was then she reported matters to the police. During their investigation, police recovered her medical records, with her consent. One record stated the medical issue, adding: “Stretched and advised”. A consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist said ‘it is a bizarre concept with no grounding in gynaecological practice’.
Dr Davis was arrested at his home on Old Hall Road, and gave a prepared statement to interviewing officers. He confirmed that a large number of his patients were strictly orthodox Jews who are ‘ignorant to sex education’ until they get engaged. He added that some patients had difficulties when they were first married and will ‘decide to consult with their GP’.
In a later interview he was asked about the medical notes and said that ‘stretching’ the vagina was a ‘reasonable thing to do when a female was having problems with intimacy’. When he was asked if the GMC would approve of the practice, he said: “…What is any woman in the world going to do who’s got a problem like that right? Work it out.”
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Following on from his arrest, a story was published in a Jewish newspaper. It was then that a second woman, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, came forward. She got married in the 1990s, and did have ‘marriage preparation lessons’ prior to her wedding night, but was naïve in her understanding of sex.
“She had simply been told by her mother that sex would probably not hurt her because she had been involved in exercise as a girl, which should make the sex less painful,” Ms Thomson would later tell a jury.
She was concerned about a health problem in an intimate area and was encouraged to see Dr Davis. There was no nurse or chaperone during the visit. Dr Davis told her to remove her lower clothing before ‘examining her’. He then offered to check if she was still a ‘bethulah’. She later learned this was the Hebrew word for ‘virgin’.
She asked the doctor if the examination was ‘necessary’ as she found intercourse painful, and he replied: “Yes, it’s useful, a good idea”.
With that she put her trust in him. She felt uncomfortable, and afterwards, he said she was ‘healthy’. The woman said she felt embarrassed and humiliated, and said it had affected her relationship with her husband. Years later she confided in her daughter, a midwife, who confirmed her fears that the examination was not necessary.
Medical notes obtained by the police confirmed that she had attended the surgery, and an examination had taken place, though there was nothing in the notes to say she had been ‘internally examined’.
Dr Davis was later interviewed by the police about the woman’s allegations. He confirmed there would have been ‘no need’ to perform an internal examination in the circumstances she presented with. He added that he had no specific memory of carrying out an examination of her hymen but said this was something he had done in the past at the request of his patients.
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Dr Davis was charged with offences against both women, and a third complainant. All matters came to trial at Manchester Crown Court. Both women gave evidence, unusually in ‘closed court’ settings, to best support them in giving their evidence. This was agreed by both the Crown and defence for Dr Davis.
At the conclusion, there were mixed verdicts, with him being convicted of indecent assault and assault by penetration. On the offences jurors were unable to reach a verdict on, prosecutors sought a retrial. He was remanded into custody. With that came reporting restrictions, banning reporting any of the facts of the verdicts in the first trial, and anything from the re-trial.
Jailing Dr Davis, who kept his head bowed throughout the hearing, Judge Peter Horgan said: “Your convictions vividly demonstrate how you abused the trust placed in you by those ladies and your community. You decided to do what you wanted without regard.”
A spokesperson for the General Medical Council (GMC) said that Dr Davis is currently interim suspended whilst the GMC investigates. The case will be referred to a medical practitioners tribunal at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) following the conviction and sentence.
Speaking after the case, Erica Marks, CEO of Jewish Sexual Abuse Support (JSAS) said: “I am in awe of the bravery of our clients, especially our first client, for their initial reporting of this crime, this then led directly to the second client speaking of their own experience.”
“I must thank colleagues at GMP and the CPS as they have supported our clients from the outset and have worked with us and our clients as a team.”
“This has been a gruelling experience for the victims across a very lengthy process. the criminal justice process presents many problems for those reporting sexual abuse, and to remain committed to the conclusion of this action is testament to the bravery of all who speak out. This case has shown that collaborative working is key to achieving healthy outcomes for those affected by sexual abuse.”
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