Osteopath on sex offenders' register after molesting seven male patients

Keith Grieve was placed on the sex offenders' register yesterday after he was found guilty of assaulting patients at his Inverness clinic.

During a 15-day trial at the city's sheriff court, victims described how Grieve, 58, molested them. One told the court he "professionally whipped off" his boxer shorts before caressing his genitals.

Police were contacted by a patient who had concerns about the osteopath's work with teenage footballers trying to join professional teams in the Highlands. Once one victim came forward, a series of others followed.

Grieve had originally been accused of sexually assaulting ten men by removing their underwear without their permission and molesting them.

Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood yesterday found him guilty on seven counts of sexual assault. He found two charges not proven, while another was dropped by the Crown during the trial.

The victims ranged in age from their 20s to their late 50s.

One, a father and company director from Ross-shire, told how he had continually suffered back pain following a work-related injury over 20 years ago.

The man, who cannot be named, said he had been with several osteopaths over the years and had ended up seeing Grieve at the Highland Osteopathic Centre in Inverness because his regular consultant was busy.

On his third and last visit to the clinic, he said he was asked to lie on his back, which took him by surprise.

He said: "You normally spend 90 per cent of the time on your tummy and the other 10 per cent on your side … but never on your back."

The man, who was wearing only boxer shorts, said he was also surprised that Grieve was massaging his legs and thighs, as previous osteopaths had concentrated on his back.

The man said: "I thought it was maybe a different method." However, he added: "Within an instant he pulled my boxers off. He so professionally whipped my boxers off, it was one movement.

"I had never seen anything like that before in my life. I did feel uncomfortable. His hand touched my testicle, which I thought was possibly a mistake. Then it happened again, and it was more noticeable … a more pronounced feeling and much stronger.

"Everybody knows when it is wrong. I just felt immediately it was not right, it's just instinctive. I felt uncomfortable about this and swung off the bed and put my boxers back on."

He added: "I thought it was sexual."

Grieve, of Riverside Gardens, Inverness, carried out the assaults at Highland Osteopathic Centre based at Ardross Street in Inverness, between 2005 and 2007.

He told the court that he had lost his business and had been declared bankrupt after police had arrested him for sexual assault.

He claimed there was bad feeling between himself and other osteopaths in the Highlands, and that there was a vendetta against him.

Giving evidence, Grieve added: "Somebody is putting them up to this." He claimed that any contact between his hand and a patient's private parts would have been "accidental" and he denied seeking sexual gratification from touching his alleged victims.

However, Sheriff Fleetwood found him guilty on seven counts of sexual assault.

He told Grieve: "I do find these offences had a significant sexual content. I am going to call for background reports because you are a 58-year-old first offender. Having been convicted, you are now subject to the sex offenders' register. You must notify the police of your address within three days."

The sheriff added that prison was not uppermost in his mind, but it was not being ruled out until he considers the inquiry report.

Sentence was deferred until 25 March.