Blackpool doc cleared of loo voyeurism after panel hears his phone camera may have turned on while he was '˜cleaning himself'

A fellow doctor told the panel he looked down to see a phone below the dividing wall between his and Dr Umar Patel’s cubicles, with an image of his trousers and belt on the screen.

Dr Patel, who was last year cleared of voyeurism at Preston Crown Court, where his address was given as Sunning Hill Street, Bolton, said he had been sending WhatsApp messages and may have accidentally turned on the camera mode while cleaning himself.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service said it was “likely that any image seen on the screen was accidental and that it had not been Dr Patel’s intention to view or record the next door cubicle.”

It added: “[The panel] considered that inadvertently opening the camera mode on a telephone is a common experience and likely to have occurred.”