A CONSULTANT doctor who has worked at two York hospitals has appeared before the city’s magistrates charged with outraging public decency.

Dr Steven Forde, a consultant anaesthetist, is accused of following a young woman who was wearing a very short skirt around the city centre and using a concealed video camera to take pictures of her legs without her consent.

The offence is alleged to have taken place on May 9.

Forde, 44, of York Road, Haxby, denied the charge. Magistrates set a trial date of October 18 and released him on unconditional bail until then.

He qualified as a doctor in 1991 and was suspended on an interim basis from practising as a doctor by the General Medical Council after the allegation was made.

He has been qualified as an anaesthetist since 1999, for several years has held a post in York Hospital’s anaesthetics department and has also worked at Clifton Park Hospital.