'You destroyed my life': Woman sexually assaulted in an NHS Hospital feels 'betrayed' after she learns her abuser will be let out of prison early
Surgeon who molested patient is eligible for Early Release Scheme, despite government vowing to keep “most serious” offenders behind bars
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Warning: article contains mentions of sexual assault and rape
“He came into my hospital room and closed the door. He was my doctor. I had faith in him. But then he proceeded to sexually assault me.”
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Just 24 hours after Liz – whose name we've changed to protect her identity – underwent a back operation, she was attacked by her NHS surgeon.
“I was physically unable to move due to the procedure, so I couldn’t fight him off. I just had to lay there and take it. There was nothing I could do to stop him. I was degraded and abused whilst vulnerable, incapacitated, frightened and alone.”
The incident took place at a London hospital in 2021, and her abuser was eventually sentenced to seven years in prison in November 2025.
But Liz has decided to share her story for the first time after learning he is set to be released from prison early under the government’s controversial Early Release Scheme.
“I feel betrayed,” said Liz. “I feel so angry. I'm having to pay for the fact that governments – not just this government, but prior governments – haven't done enough to build enough prison spaces.”
Read more: 'He’s going to kill me': Domestic abuse victims warn Early Release Scheme will put lives at risk
“Why am I expected to sacrifice my sense of safety and my right to justice because there aren't enough beds in the prisons? I'm being punished here, not him. It's not fair and it's not right.”
As part of the Sentencing Act 2026, thousands of offenders will now be eligible for release after one-third of their term, rather than after 40% or 50% of their term, in an effort to free up prison spaces.
Those sentenced for violent or sexual offences will be automatically released halfway through their term, down from the two-thirds point.
The government has announced that people convicted for unlawful killing, rape, grooming, as well as various historic and child sexual offences, will be barred from early release under changes to the scheme.
More than 18,000 offenders serving more Life Sentences or Extended Determinate Sentences are already also ineligible.
Yet Liz’s doctor was jailed for ‘sexual assault by penetration’ of an adult, an offence under Section 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
Though the offence can, in certain cases, carry a life sentence, LBC has been told it is not excluded from eligibility, according to the Ministry of Justice.
It means he is due to serve as little as half of his 7-year sentence behind bars.
“I don't think people realise that there are heinous, disgusting, and violating cases like this that sit in the grey zone,” explained Liz. “How have they decided that rape isn’t okay, but sexual assault by penetration is okay? I don't understand the rationale.”
“I can't put it into words how crushing it would feel if he’s released early. It's like you've been kicked in the stomach,” she added.
“I was getting somewhere. I'd hoped in my head that when he was released, I'd be in a place where I was safe. But I'm not there yet. I've been promised justice with a long prison sentence, and someone is taking that away from me.”
‘Traumatic’
When sentencing the doctor in court, the judge said the effect of the surgeon’s conduct had been "traumatic” and caused “severe psychological harm.”
Liz had to endure a rape examination less than 48 hours post-surgery. “My battered body was put on display,” she recalled. “It was painful and humiliating.”
“When I phoned my Dad to tell him what had happened, he replied: ‘I can't bear to hear this. It kills me. It makes me feel physically ill.’ Those were his last words to me on this earth. He dropped dead 2 hours later. I have to carry that with me.”
“I am the strongest woman in my children's life, in my husband's life, and I was reduced to a stuttering, crying emotional wreck reliant on heavy-duty antidepressants, sleep medication, and therapy.”
Liz’s case is not an isolated one. As reported by LBC, more than 12,000 reports of alleged sexual assault were recorded in NHS hospitals across the UK over a five year period.
Many perpetrators of sexual assault, in and out of hospital, are set to be released early from prison under the new rules. There were roughly 470 people jailed last year alone for committing sexual assault by penetration.
‘Enormous risk’
Liz first received a letter from the Ministry of Justice’s Victim Contact Scheme 11 weeks ago, informing her about the doctor's release.
In it, her Victim Liaison Officer wrote: “I understand that receiving this information may be difficult, and we recognise the lasting impact the offence may have had on you. I know this may have affected your sense of safety, caused anxiety about the future, or brought back thoughts or memories associated with the harm experienced.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson told LBC that the government “shares the public’s anger that these options are even being considered” and that it is working “to keep more of the most dangerous offenders behind bars.”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham also says he understands “how strongly people feel about this issue.”
“We moved quickly to block vile criminals who commit rape, sexually abuse children and groom vulnerable young people, while keeping those in prison for the most serious crimes locked up,” the Prime Minister stated.
“The truth is I wanted to go even further. But I’ve pushed the system to the very limits of what’s possible without risking the prison system collapsing within months, putting the public at enormous risk.”
The government claims that if it didn’t act then courts would be unable to hold trials, police would be unable to make arrests and crime would go unpunished, because the prison system was running at near-capacity.
There are almost 87,000 people in prisons across England and Wales, with just over 2,000 spaces remaining.
The government says it’s building 14,000 new prison places and has pledged extra funding for victim support.
But Liz believes “the goalposts have been moved after the game's been played, and they haven’t consulted us about it. It's creating the Wild West and they’re just revictimising the victim again.”
“This man destroyed my life. He showed zero remorse. He might get a new end date. But I don't have an end date. This will never leave me.”