{"id":598951,"date":"2026-08-20T07:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T07:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/598951\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T07:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T07:56:15","slug":"irish-doctor-jailed-in-uk-for-sexually-assaulting-patients-worked-in-dublin-care-centre-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/598951\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish doctor jailed in UK for sexually assaulting patients worked in Dublin care centre \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Irish doctor who was jailed in the UK last week for sexually assaulting two patients<\/a> worked in a centre for people with intellectual disabilities in north Dublin for 22 years.<\/p>\n

Dr Muhammad Iqbal (64), of Julianstown, Co Meath, was jailed last week for 18 months at Newcastle Crown Court in relation to separate incidents in Darlington and Sunderland in 2023.<\/p>\n

His victims were attending physiotherapy sessions arranged by their insurers following road crashes, and were seen by Iqbal.<\/p>\n

The Irish Times has established that Iqbal worked for 22 years at St Michael\u2019s House in Ballymun, which provides a range of services and supports to adults and children with disabilities. <\/p>\n

St Michael\u2019s House said it complied with all requirements of the Medical Council, the medical profession\u2019s regulatory body, when concerns were raised about the doctor, adding that \u201cthe safety, welfare and dignity\u201d of service users has always been their \u201cprimary concern\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is understood Iqbal continued working in the Dublin centre throughout the UK court case, before his employment ended last week.<\/p>\n

It emerged during the UK court case that during the assault of one patient, he had grabbed the woman\u2019s breast, and that in the second, he had pretended he needed to examine her breast, saying he was checking for lumps, although that was not the reason for the examination.<\/p>\n

Durham Constabulary said Iqbal was jailed for 18 months at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday last, and was placed on the sex offenders\u2019 register for 10 years.<\/p>\n

He had denied the offences but was convicted following a trial, the UK police force said.<\/p>\n

In a statement, a spokesman for St Michael\u2019s House said it implemented all safeguards and requirements communicated by the Medical Council as the prosecution case against him progressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cSt Michael\u2019s House is aware of the outcome of court proceedings involving Dr Muhammed Iqbal. The safety, welfare and dignity of the people who use our services are our primary concern at all times,\u201d the spokesman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout this matter, St Michael\u2019s House acted in accordance with the requirements of the Medical Council and complied with its obligations as an employer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesman said Iqbal had \u201csatisfied the applicable Garda vetting requirements\u201d but added that he is no longer working with the service provider.<\/p>\n

The registered charity said it implemented the safeguards and requirements it received from the medical regulator.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe organisation complied with the conditions attached to Dr Iqbal\u2019s continued practice. We will be reviewing for any lessons learned and will be liaising with the Medical Council,\u201d the spokesman added.<\/p>\n

Asked whether there were any concerns about potential safeguarding issues among service users of St Michael\u2019s House, the spokesman said \u201cno such concerns have been raised\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, if any service user, family member or guardian has a concern, we ask that they bring it to our attention at the earliest opportunity,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Irish Medical Council\u2019s register of doctors states that Iqbal\u2019s registration is suspended until \u201csteps or further steps are taken\u201d under the relevant legislation. <\/p>\n

He is prohibited from practising medicine at this time, according to the register.<\/p>\n

Outside the UK court on Friday, Det Const Charlotte Naisby, of Durham Constabulary\u2019s complex safeguarding team, said: \u201cIqbal preyed on these women during a very vulnerable period in their lives, and his behaviour was despicable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe women should have felt safe being examined by a certified GP, but instead Iqbal not only assaulted them but breached their trust in the most horrendous way, and we are glad to see he is now behind bars.\u201d<\/p>\n

The HSE<\/a> was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Irish doctor who was jailed in the UK last week for sexually assaulting two patients worked in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,2120,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-598951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-hse","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}