A former doctor offering a mobile circumcision service has admitted child cruelty after leaving his patients with “emotional and physical scars” from his procedures.
Mohammad Siddiqui, 56, travelled up and down the country performing non-therapeutic – not clinically necessary – male circumcisions on young patients up to the age of 14 between June 2012 and November 2013.
He was suspended from working at Southampton General Hospital and later removed from the UK’s General Medical Council Register in 2015 after a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel found him guilty of failures in performing the procedures in the homes of four babies.
Through his work as a clinical fellow in paediatric surgery at the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, he was able to source the anaesthetic Bupivacaine Hydrochloride.
Despite being struck off Siddiqui continued to operate his mobile circumcision service and use the anaesthetic. He was able to do so because non-therapeutic male circumcision is unregulated, and is not required to be carried out by a medical practitioner.
He admitted on Tuesday at Southwark Crown Court a total of 25 offences including 12 counts of actual bodily harm, five counts of cruelty to a person under 16 and eight counts of administering prescription-only medicines contrary to the law.
Siddiqui is due to be sentenced on 14 January 2025 at Southwark Crown Court.
Anja Hohmeyer of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Siddiqui practised these circumcising acts in an unsafe and unsanitary environment and so meted out painful cruelty to children leaving them with emotional and physical scars.
“He showed a complete disregard for the impact of his actions on his victims, families, and communities. We hope that this conviction offers some comfort in seeing Siddiqui being brought to justice.”
Detective chief superintendent Fiona Bitters, from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, said: “This has been a complex investigation driven by the desire to secure justice for and safeguard children. Siddiqui’s pleas at this stage in his trial demonstrate the strength of the case that we had brought to the court with evidence relating to a number of victims having already been presented.
“Our investigation related to Siddiqui’s criminal actions whilst undertaking circumcision procedures and was not concerned with the practice of circumcision itself.
“I hope his pleas today help to bring some comfort to the victims who have had to wait many years to see justice served for his actions.”
