Former doctor jailed for life for historical sexual offences against young people
A former doctor has been jailed for life for a series of historical sexual offences against five young people in Sussex, Hampshire and the West Midlands.
Robert Cameron Wells, 69, drugged his victims before committing the crimes.
Wells will serve a minimum term of 17 years in prison for the offences which took place between 19 and 25 years ago.
He had been convicted in July of two counts of indecency with a boy aged eight, and attempting to possess an indecent image of a child, all in West Sussex in 1998.
He had previously pleaded guilty to 16 other offences.
The prosecution, authorised by the CPS, followed an investigation by detectives from the West Sussex Safeguarding Investigations Unit.
Wells was already serving two sentences for sexual offences against other young people in Hampshire and South Wales as a result of separate investigations by those police forces.
Wells was a GP in Brighton and Hove until his arrest in 2003 and subsequent conviction and sentencing in 2004 to 15 years for sexual offences against young girls in Hampshire. He was struck off as a doctor after that case.
In April 2017 at Cardiff Crown Court he was sentenced to seven years for four indecent assaults against three young girls.
In sentencing Wells on 6 September, Judge David Rennie called him a monster and said: "You turned out to be the stuff of and the creator of nightmares... you have done incalculable harm to a lot of people who trusted you, and your abuse went on for years.
"What you chose to do to these survivors shows you have not the slightest concern for other people or the harm that you inflicted when you decided to carry out these crimes. Lives have been devastated. Your perverted sexual appetite appears to know no bounds."
Detective Constable Owen Watkins of Sussex Police said: "Wells was clearly a systematic and serial sexual abuser of young people, using his charm and air of professional distinction to lure them into a sense of false security, for his own gratification.
"Only one of the victims was abused by Wells acting in his official capacity as a doctor, but the others came to know him, whether through family or work, because of his role and were clearly influenced by his status.
"These convictions, and his previous convictions, show how his appalling record goes over many years and it is reassuring for his victims, and for the wider community to know that he is going to be in no position to continue preying upon innocent people for many years to come.
"His victims in this case have given full support to the investigation. One of them, now in his thirties, gave evidence in court, and the others were ready to do so. We admire the strength and bravery shown by all of them, which was so crucial in ensuring that justice was done."
For information on how to report sexual offending and the support that is available, see the Sussex Police website.
Police emphasise that there are no current or recent safeguarding issues or concerns for youth or wider community safety in relation to this investigation.