A DOCTOR convicted of sexually assaulting a male patient on a busy hospital ward has been warned he faces jail after a court heard he had previously been accused of three similar offences.

Manav Arora, 37, from Birmingham, denied the sexual assault at Norwich Crown Court but was found guilty after a four-day trial.

The locum doctor, who previously worked in the North-East, was working at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital when the incident is alleged to have happened in September last year.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the doctor groped and then performed oral sex on him while inserting a catheter.

The attack is said to have taken place behind a curtain while five other patients lay nearby.

Married father-of-one Arora had insisted any contact with the victim's penis was medically necessary.

The jury of six men and six women returned its verdict after an hour and a half of deliberations.

Judge Guy Ayers adjourned sentencing to a later date, telling Arora: "You have been convicted on the plainest possible evidence.

"The question for me is how long a custodial sentence will be."

The court heard from two men who claim they were assaulted in the same way by Arora at the University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton, Cleveland, four years earlier.

After the verdict the prosecutor Andrew Shaw said Arora had also been suspended in 2005 after a similar accusation was made at a hospital in Portsmouth.

Indian-born Arora also received a caution from West Midlands Police after being caught engaged in a sex act with another man in Sandwell Valley Park near West Bromwich less than two weeks after the incident in Norwich.

Speaking outside court, Detective Constable Graham Kett said it was possible Arora had assaulted other people who never reported their concerns.

He added; "The victim went into hospital to get treatment and found himself getting sexually assaulted by this doctor. It was a terrible ordeal for him.

"We go into hospital or to see GPs expecting they will make us better and we have to be able to trust them.

"I am pleased we have got justice for this man, the others before him and others still who we may not even know about."

A spokeswoman for the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital said Arora was supplied to them by the Government approved locum agency HCL Doctors.

He worked at the hospital for seven weeks before the incident came to light.

She added: "His placement was terminated immediately and we referred him to the General Medical Council and informed HCL Doctors.

"We are deeply shocked that a health professional could behave in this manner."

A spokesman for HCL described the attack as "deplorable" and said the agency had offered its support to the victim.

Arora registered with the agency after a General Medical Council suspension was lifted when an investigation into one of the 2010 cases found the allegation was not proven.

A brief note of a police matter simply reading "other information" was on his file but the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital was not told of this.

"This was a result of human error," the spokesman said.

"To reassure the public that this is an isolated incident, we have conducted additional exhaustive checks to ensure every member of our 5,000 strong health and social care workforce is fully compliant with safeguarding regulations and our very thorough compliance regulations.

"No additional concerns were identified as a result of this review."