There was "an underlying pattern" to all the allegations of sexual assault and rape made against a North Yorkshire psychiatrist, a jury was told.

At Leeds Crown Court, Paul Worsley QC, prosecuting, listed the number of common factors in the four accusations of rape and 15 of indecent assault against Dr William Kerr, 75, of Alne, near Easingwold.

He said all the victims were patients of the retired York consultant, not nurses; all were in a vulnerable condition; all were seeking treatment for depression; and each victim allegedly complied with Dr Kerr's demands because of his forceful personality.

"We invite you to consider there is an underlying pattern in all these allegations," Mr Worsley told the jury.

He was concluding the prosecution case in the "hearing of fact" at which jurors will decide whether or not Dr Kerr carried out four rapes and 15 indecent assaults on female patients between the 1960s and the 1980s.

A previous jury decided Dr Kerr was unfit to plead because of mental impairment, but he consistently denied the offences during police interviews.

Mr Worsley said the case against Dr Kerr, who had been "the number one consultant psychiatrist in North Yorkshire", depended on whether or not the jury decided the 16 complainants had consented to sexual acts with Dr Kerr.

He said the women had "complied" with Dr Kerr, but not consented, because of the force of the man's personality and because many of them were convinced their mental health was being bettered by the doctor.

"Each of the instances is the patient/doctor relationship," Mr Worsley said. "They had not gone to be assaulted, they had gone to try to find help."

Mr Worsley emphasised that the complainants' witness statements bore "the hallmarks of truthfulness" because none of them went "over the top" in their accounts of what happened.

Earlier, written statements had been read out from five of Dr Kerr's former secretaries, each of whom said they had never received any complaints about him or had any reason to suspect anything untoward was happening.

Each had nothing but praise for him, commenting on how pleasant, professional and helpful he was.

One of them, who had been his secretary at Clifton Hospital, in York, said: "I got on very well with him and liked him and respected him.

"When I spoke to patients, frequently I received compliments about how good he was."

The hearing continues today with the case for the defence expected to begin.