A DOCTOR WHO WAS JAILED FOR SIX MONTHS FOR HELPING

A DOCTOR WHO WAS JAILED FOR SIX MONTHS FOR HELPING JAMAICAN
IMMIGRANTS TO OBTAIN FALSE PASSPORTS, HAD HIS APPEAL

AGAINST SENTENCE DISMISSED AT THE HIGH COURT TODAY (MONDAY).

DR TARA SONKAR MIDYA, 53, ‘WAS IN BREACH OF TRUST’ WHEN HE
COUNTERSIGNED PASSPORT APPLICATION FORMS FOR PEOPLE FALSELY CLAIMING
TO BE HIS FORMER PATIENTS, THE COURT WAS TOLD.

THE FORMS WERE BROUGHT TO HIM AT HIS BUSY SURGERY
IN HANDSWORTH, BIRMINGHAM, IN 1982 BY ONE OF HIS PATIENTS, A
JAMAICAN WOMAN CALLED MRS INNOCENCE SPEED.

MRS SPEED, NICKNAMED ‘CUTIE’, WAS PART OF A
CONSPIRACY TOOBTAIN BRITISH PASSPORTS FOR PEOPLE RESIDENT IN
JAMAICA WHO WANTED TO OBTAIN VISAS TO ENTER THE UNITED STATES,
BUT SHE HAS SINCE DISAPPEARED.

SHE APPROACHED DR MIDYA WITH THE APPLICATION FORMS, CLAIMING
WRONGLY THAT THE PEOPLE NAMED ON THEM WERE ALL FORMER PATIENTS, BUT

HE FAILED TO CHECK WHETHER THEY WERE OR NOT.

HE COUNTERSIGNED 11 FORMS IN ALL, CHARGING A #6 FEE FOR EACH,
AND ALSO SIGNED A NUMBER OF PHOTOGRAPHS FOR #1 EACH, WHICH WERE THEN
USED TO OBTAIN PASSPORTS.

IN 1984 TWO OF THE PASSPORTS TURNED UP ON WOMEN TRYING TO
ENTER THE UNITED STATES, AND DR MIDYA WAS ARRESTED.

ON JUNE 9, 1986, DR MIDYA, OF GILLHURST ROAD, HARBORNE,
BIRMINGHAM, HAD PLEADED GUILTY AT THE OLD BAILEY TO 11 COUNTS OF

MAKING FALSE STATEMENTS TO OBTAIN PASSPORTS.

HE WAS SENTENCED TO 12 MONTHS IMPRISONMENT, SIX MONTHS OF
WHICH WAS SUSPENDED.

MR ROBERT SOLOMAN, DEFENDING, DESCRIBED DR MIDYA, WHO IS
MARRIED WITH FIVE CHILDREN AND EARNS #28,000 A YEAR, AS ‘A HARD
WORKING DOCTOR WITH A SUBSTANTIAL PRACTICE, WHO WAS WORKING UNDER
STRESS AT THE TIME.

‘
HE HAD COUNTERSIGNED THE FORMS ‘IN GOOD FAITH’ BELIEVING THE
APPLICANTS TO BE GENUINE EX-PATIENTS, HE SAID.

‘DR MIDYA IS A MAN OF GOOD CHARACTER WHO HAS COMPLETELY LOST
THAT CHARACTER BY THESE ACTIONS.

A PRISON SENTENCE WAS CLEARLY
CORRECT, BUT SIX MONTHS WAS EXCESSIVE.

‘
BUT GIVING JUDGMENT, LORD JUSTICE RALPH GIBSON, SITTING WITH
MR JUSTICE HIRST AND MR JUSTICE OTTON, SAID DR MIDYA HAD ACTED
‘IN BREACH OF TRUST.

‘
HE ADDED: ‘HE IS EMPOWERED AS A COUNTERSIGNATORY BECAUSE
THE GOVERNMENT HAS GOT TO FIND SOMEONE THEY CAN TRUST.

‘TO

COUNTERSIGN WHEN YOU KNOW PERFECTLY WELL YOU HAVE NOT DONE
WHAT IS REQUIRED OF YOU, JUSTIFIES A SENTENCE OF THIS LENGTH, EVEN ON

A PERSON OF GOOD CHARACTER,.

‘
THE JUDGE INSISTED THAT THE COURTS MUST IMPOSE DETERRENT
SENTENCES IN SUCH CASES.

HE SAID HE COULD NOT SEE THAT ‘THE
SENTENCE WAS WRONG IN PRINCIPLE OR EXCESSIVE.

‘
THE APPEAL WAS DISMISSED.

ENDS