A SURGEON accused of sexually assaulting a young patient has told a jury that he is "disgusted" by what he claims is an "insulting" false allegation.

Magdy Eskander is said to have inappropriately touched the girl during two visits to Darlington Memorial Hospital with a back complaint in 2011.

The 59-year-old is on trial at Teesside Crown Court where he denies sexual assault. He has been cleared of abusing another girl in the same year.

Mr Eskander, who retired last year as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, was asked by barrister, Anthony Maycroft: "Did you touch her sexually?" He replied: "No."

Mr Maycroft, defending, asked the father-of-three, from Chilton, County Durham: "How do you feel about the suggestion you touched a child inappropriately?"

The doctor said: "I feel disgusted. I have spent a lifetime caring for my patients, and I care a lot. I do go out of my way to look after children.

"To compare me to a paedophile, a low-life creature, is insulting, absolutely insulting. It is a nightmare.

"I feel absolutely disgusted that my name is being linked to this horrendous, heinous crime."

On the seventh day of the trial, the jury heard details of Mr Eskander's medical studies, his career, church activities and charity work.

He told how he got a degree at Cairo University in Egypt in 1980, followed by two post-graduate fellowships in general surgery and orthopaedics.

Two years after graduating, he came to the UK and worked in a number of hospitals, and as a doctor for the British armed forces for eight years from 1990.

In 2004, he was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Darlington, became lead clinician within a year, and went on to specialise in children.

Asked by Mr Haycroft what he did outside of work, he told the jury he was heavily involved in his local church, where his wife took Sunday school.

He said he often drives a mini-bus for disadvantaged families - mostly asylum-seekers - but has out in place protocols so he is never alone with children.

The court heard that he is part of a Christian cause called Copts in Need, and contributes to charities which look after orphanages in Egypt.

Mr Eskander said he acts as a "point of contact" for children and adolescents in the church, to help with CV writing and interview techniques.

Mr Haycroft asked: "In the church, do you ever get into a situation where you are alone with children?" He said: "I would not allow it to happen."

Mr Eskander told the court he used to see more than 600 patients a year, and does not remember the girl who claims he sexually assaulted her.

He told the jury that he would never have examined a child without a chaperone being there - usually a nurse, sometimes a parent, and often both.

His accuser, who was 14 at the time of the alleged abuse, claimed Mr Eskander had covered her with a sheet to shield his actions from her chaperone.

She said she had been assaulted at two orthopaedic appointments and claims the doctor fondled her breasts on each occasion and at the second appointment, touched her genitals twice.

She said: “For this to happen in an environment where you are supposed to feel safe and protected left me feeling helpless.

“I was crying but nobody could see what was happening and I was trying to stay strong because it was an examination and I thought he was a professional…

“…I felt uncomfortable and violated by the situation but assumed, him being a doctor, that anything that was being done was necessary.”

A former colleague from County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust told the court how she was often the "chaperone" for Mr Eskander.

Describing him as "extremely professional", she said: "He is a perfectionist. Dignity and privacy were, and still are, a big thing."

The trial continues.