A ‘vulnerable’ woman who claims she was ‘groomed’ into weekly intercourse with a perverted doctor at his surgery says she felt used as a ‘sex object’ to help his boredom.
Cambridge-educated Thomas Plimmer, 40, has been accused of having sex with multiple women at his GP practice in Swindon.
He is facing accusations from at least half a dozen complainants – including one colleague who says their weekly sex meetings at the practice were ‘unwanted’ and sometimes forced.
During cross examination today (Thurs) at a Medical Practioners Tribunal, the woman, referred to as Miss A, outlined how she felt ‘groomed’ by the doctor into becoming a “sex object for a sex addict.”
And she told the hearing she would ‘bear the scars” for life after what she says he did to her. She said Dr Plimmer would only target “vulnerable” woman and claimed his perversions were all about “power.”
During cross examination, Miss A argued everything she was said to have “consented” was “coerced” and added: “There were multiple non-consensual acts.”
She was asked about the early stages of their ‘flirting’ and the sending of sexual videos and photos between her and Dr Plimmer and said she felt “under pressure to provide visual material.”
The tribunal heard the messages contained a lot of food-related sexual innuendos and would often reference what was “on the menu.” They included references to being “really hungry” and “menu choices” while the hearing was also told he had referred to his penis as a “sausage roll.”
Miss A added: “It was just jokey conversations with a lot of wordplay on food. I see my stupidity; I see my innuendo.
“I’ve not at any point denied there was a sexual based dynamic. What I allege is there are other factors that led to me complying with this.”
Miss A said she felt like a “sex-based object that kept a sex addict from being bored.”
“I was very compliant at the time,” she added. “I don’t deny this, but how I ended up in that role is different.”
She said it was “no coincidence” he chose “vulnerable” victims to “amuse him.”
“He knew he was in a position of power,” she added. “We had had other conversations about my isolation and the way I responded to people.”
“Then when I said no to touching me, he did. I said no to penetration and he did. What he likes is power. This is all about power.”
Miss A added: “As a man in a position of power to me it was completely ingrained, it was self-protection, it was easier to do what you are asked.
“Generally, things are safer that way.”
Miss A said there were many factors that “kept her silence”. These included the fear she would get into trouble at work and, that “my husband would kill me”.
She added: “All those factors made it very difficult to get support and seek help to what was happening.
“Do I accept that I could have reacted differently in certain circumstances? – yes, I do – but I feel I did the best I could with the limited skills that I had. I was effectively in some ways still a five-year-old girl being told what to do.
“I did not know anything other than abusive men.”
Miss A said when she first raised concern she only spoke about an incident where he had made her place her hands on his penis.
She said the first time he had penetrated her, she told him “no” as she said there was a “no touching rule.”
She added: “He knew I said no as he was doing it – and that wasn’t in the rules. He pushed those boundaries and they definitely did not include penetration.”
Miss A said that “once that boundary had gone” it was “easier for that to be how things were.”
She claimed after that first encounter there were “times when she complied” and did not “verbalise a no” and other times she did.
She added: “There were times when I allowed penetration and times when I said no.
“I am not what proud of happened – and it is not what I am now.”
Miss A said she held a “lot of shame” about the abuse she suffered and didn’t give a full disclosure initially as she just wanted to “remove myself to make myself safe.”
She said at the time she only reported the incident of touching and not the penetration as she didn’t want the whole thing to “blow up”.
She added: “I did not have energy – just staying alive was difficult at that time – I did not have the resilience to raise this – all I wanted to do was not to have to work with this man.
“This was a man – who was in a position of power – who did things to me without consent – and that damage is done to me.
“Those scars will be there forever – it has completely impacted my life.”
Miss A said she had five years of therapy over what happened and added: “I don’t what another woman, as vulnerable as the one I was then, to go to someone they should trust and be treated and manipulated and coerced the way I, and others, were.
“I maybe the only person to take the hit – but I am not the only one.”
The tribunal is examining allegations that during the period May 2018 to September 2019, Plimmer behaved in a sexually motivated way towards Miss A, whom he knew to be vulnerable.
It is also alleged that between January to June 2020 and in February 2021, he behaved in a sexually motivated way towards four other women.
It is further alleged that in March 2021, he made a threat towards another woman.
The tribunal earlier heard the doctor went on to invite two women he met on dating sites to the surgery where he engaged in sex acts with them during working hours.
On a separate occasion, he is accused of sending unsolicited pictures of genitals that were ‘taken at work’ to another women he met on a dating site.
The hearing continues.
