A Maltese doctor faces losing his licence following reports of his conviction in relation to indecent images of a child.

The Liverpool Echo reports that “(David) Scerri, 48, was convicted of six counts of taking indecent photographs of a child at Manchester Crown Court in June last year. He was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for five years and given a three-year community order”.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) in the UK is expected to hear the case – on whether his doctor’s licence should be retained or revoked - on 29 and 30 April.

“The Fitness to Practice Panel will inquire into the allegation that, on 13 June 2014 at the Crown Court in Manchester, Dr Scerri was convicted of six counts of taking indecent photographs of a child and was sentenced to a community order for three years with a supervision requirement, required to attend the Northumbria Sex Offender Group for 144 days, to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for a period of five years and made subject to a Sex Offenders Prevention Order for five years,” information on the MPTS site read. 

Dr David Scerri worked as a gastroenterologist at Aintree Hospital until his arrest.

Contacted by The Malta Independent, a spokesman for Aintree Hospital said: “Dr Scerri is no longer employed by the (Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation) Trust. Immediately after Greater Manchester Police told the Trust that Dr Scerri had been arrested in July 2012, the Trust took steps to stop him from working in the hospital. We also informed the General Medical Council of the situation. The charges were unrelated to any aspect of Dr Scerri’s role in the hospital.”

Dr Scerri, of Wythenshawe, Manchester, qualified as a doctor in Malta in 1991 and registered to practise in Britain in 2003, before becoming a gastroenterology specialist in 2009.