Police have apologised to dozens of staff groped and assaulted by perverted force doctor between 1990 and 2004
Dr Reginald Bunting slapped patients on the bottom, removed women's bras and touched their breasts and made men urinate in front of him
POLICE yesterday apologised to dozens of staff who were groped and assaulted by a force doctor.
Reg Bunting carried out at least 54 inappropriate examinations on Avon and Somerset officers between 1990 and 2004, an independent investigation found.
Dr Reginald Bunting slapped patients on the bottom, removed women's bras and touched their breasts and made men urinate in front of him, an inquiry found.
The force's medical officer also made patients strip for examinations, inappropriately touched new recruits' testicles and committed penetrative assaults.
His sickening offences spanned two decades between 1990 and 2004 and 65 people - 59 of whom were new recruits at the time - reported issues.
The IPCC is investigating why no action was taken before he died in 2013 aged 80. The force said: “There would have been sufficient evidence to interview him under caution as a criminal suspect.”
Avon and Somerset said: "Had Dr Bunting been alive, there would have been sufficient evidence to interview him under caution as a criminal suspect."
It added that the findings represent an "unsolved and unhealthy legacy" for the force.
Some 835 people were spoken to over the course of Merseyside Police's inquiry, which began in August 2015, two years after Bunting's death.
A total of 212 statements were taken and 112 people raised issues, 100 of whom were police officers, 10 police staff and two other patients.