New allegations over surgeon who raped women in Devon and Cornwall

More women have come forward with allegations about a trainee surgeon who was convicted of raping two women in Devon and Cornwall.

Salil Korambayil, 33, was jailed in 2023 for 14 years for raping two women and in August he was given a further 12 months for the misuse of patient data.

The new allegations made to the BBC include one of rape and one from a woman who says he accessed her medical records and later turned up at her house.

The claims have been put to Korambayil’s legal team, but they have not responded.

Emma, which is not her real name, told the BBC the surgeon was a “predator” who had stolen everything from her, but she had been afraid no-one would believe her because of what he did for a job.

Warning: this story contains details some may find distressing.

Korambayil first made contact with her when he added her as a friend on Facebook in July 2020.

Emma said: “I messaged him and said: ‘Have you added me by mistake?’

“He said he thought he recognised me from the hospital.

“I thought he was probably genuine and then when I found out what he did for a living, very quickly I suppose, I thought he was trustworthy because of what he did.”

At the time Korambayil was working at the North Devon District Hospital in Barnstaple.

After exchanging messages, Emma said they went on several dates before he invited her to his bedsit.

Emma said: “We started kissing and had consensual sex but during that he had his hands around my throat which I was uncomfortable with as I couldn’t breathe properly.”

She said she tried to roll away but could not and he raped her.

Emma said she reported it to police at a later date but she was too traumatised to take it further.

“It’s taken years for me to piece back who I was before,” Emma said. “But I want it public so that other women can come forward if they’ve been in the same position as me, because I think there are others out there.”

In 2021, Emma received a letter from the NHS saying her medical records had been unlawfully accessed by an unnamed doctor. A second letter, sent after the surgeon had been jailed, revealed it had been Korambayil.

Another woman spoke to the BBC about Korambayil after finding out her medical records had also been accessed without authorisation.

Stacey Loder said Korambayil first contacted her on Facebook in 2020 saying she had come up as a suggested friend and he thought he recognised her from the hospital. He also told her he was a surgeon.

Later she was in the North Devon District Hospital to have her appendix out and Korambayil was the surgeon.

Stacey told the BBC she raised concerns to the hospital but she has since been told they could not find any record of her complaint.

When she returned home she said she received a Facebook message from Korambayil.

“I went home and we messaged that evening,” she said.

“He made a comment about the operation, saying maybe wait a couple of weeks before I make it up to him for operating on me.”

Stacey said at first she engaged in the messages, but when they became more explicit she stopped replying.

She alleges that after she ignored him he turned up at her house, but she did not let him in and told the BBC she had never disclosed her address to him despite him “asking four times”.

Stacey said she “felt sick” looking back at the situation.

“He is a surgeon, he knew how vulnerable I was and he just didn’t care.”

Stacey told the BBC she had received letters from the NHS saying her medical records had been accessed by a doctor without authorisation.

She said the hospital later confirmed it was Korambayil who had unlawfully accessed her records on two occasions after her surgery. She believes this is how he got her address.

The Royal Devon University Healthcare Trust said it could not comment on individual cases but had contacted people whose data was accessed “to provide support… to patients who wanted to raise any concerns”.

It added: “Our focus throughout has been on being open and transparent, and supporting the victims, both those we are aware of and any more that come to light.”

The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, where he later worked, has also contacted those affected and both hospitals said they were “appalled” by Korambayil’s “abuse” of “trust”.

Korambayil has applied for leave to appeal the rape convictions.

If you’ve been affected by the issues raised in this article, help and support is available via BBC Action Line.