A senior Indian-origin heart surgeon, who is convicted of abusing his position to sexually assault female members of staff, has been sentenced to six years in prison.

The jailed doctor has been identified as Amal Bose.

In a statement, Lancashire Constabulary said in a statement: "A senior hospital consultant convicted of abusing his position to sexually assault female members of staff has today been jailed."

The statement further said that during the course of his trial, the jury heard that Amal Bose was the root cause of a toxic and sexualised culture at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

"His behaviours including touching women inappropriately and making sexualised comments," read the statement.

Despite claiming his actions were ‘only flirting’ and ‘banter’ Bose was found guilty by a jury after a trial in June.

He was convicted of 12 counts of sexual assault relating to five female members of staff at the hospital between 2017 and 2022.

He was cleared of two other counts.

In personal statements read to the judge the victims said Bose’s behaviour had left them feeling unsafe at work and less trusting of male colleagues.

Some changed work patterns to avoid him, called in sick or were even forced to leave the profession.

They said they suffered anxiety, panic attacks and loss of confidence.

One said Bose had not only violated her body but had violated the trust and respect that should exist in any professional workplace.

Temp Det Chief Insp Kirsty Wyatt said: “Everyone should feel able to go to work and feel safe, confident and secure but Mr Bose has undermined that by abusing his position of power to sexually assault these female members of staff and by doing so has caused enormous damage.

“I would like to thank the victims for having the courage to come forward and speak about what happened to them – that cannot have been easy.

“While he may have considered his behaviour as merely flirting Mr Bose’s actions have clearly had a deep and lasting impact on his victims and in some cases has caused them to abandon the profession they loved.

“I would like to thank the jury for their careful consideration of the facts of this case and the Crown Prosecution Service for their presentation of the evidence.

“Finally, I hope that the guilty verdicts in this case give others who may have suffered similar ordeals the confidence to report it to us safe in the knowledge we will investigate professionally and sensitively.”