A man who posed as a doctor and tricked dozens of women into undergoing intimate examinations has been jailed for four years by a court in Breda.

The 48-year-old man, who comes from Tilburg, had faced 11 charges of rape and one of indecent assault. The court ruled that the man, named as Ron O, had misled the women and was guilty of sexual assault but was not guilty of rape as defined in the law.

The court was told O had posed as a doctor since 2007 and the first complaint against him was made in 2015.

Sports club

O would pick up his victims at a sports club, befriend them and take them to his home where he had a small massage studio. One woman told the court he claimed to be carrying out research into sexual satisfaction on behalf of a Belgian university and that she would be paid €200 to take part.

O also carried out breast examinations and took cervical smear samples using specialist equipment he had bought, Omroep Brabant reported.

O told the court hearing in September he was obsessed by the idea of being a doctor and thought he could make proper diagnoses.

Some of the victims had known the fake doctor for years before it transpired he was a fake. ‘I feel dirty and cheated,’ one victim was quoted as saying by Omroep Brabant. ‘But most of all I am angry because he played with my health.’