By Marjory Inglis

THE FUTURE of a young Dundee doctor who was exposed as an internet pervert hung in the balance yesterday.

Craig Morton (26) appeared at a General Medical Council fitness to practise review hearing in Manchester.

It was told a “long-standing interest in pornography” had continued even after his criminal conviction.

The panel previously suspended his GMC registration for 12 months, preventing Morton from working as a doctor.

After further consideration yesterday, the panel found his fitness to practise remains “impaired” and he remains at risk of re-offending.

Morton will be subject to a probation order and remain on the sex offenders register until 10 March, 2008.

Until recently he attended the Tay Project, a treatment programme for sex offenders, as a condition of his probation.

A report from the project mentioned his continuing interest in pornography.

A GMC spokeswoman said yesterday the panel was still considering “sanctions” to be imposed on Morton as a result of yesterday’s finding.

Morton was arrested in 2002 after police raided his parents’ house and found two computer discs containing pornographic pictures of young boys.

A paediatrician who examined the images viewed 11 of the 38 pictures and found seven were of children under 16, and found it too distressing to view any more.

In August 2004 Morton, who previously worked at Ninewells Hospital, escaped with an admonition after he admitted downloading indecent pictures and possessing discs with images of boys under 16.

But following an outcry, appeal court judges quashed the sentence and imposed a three-year probation order, with a special condition that Morton attend a local sex offenders’ treatment programme.

He was also ordered to be put on the sex offenders’ register for three years.

Last year Morton, from Broughty Ferry, was suspended after a GMC hearing found the Dundee University graduate used his credit card to download the images when he was a 19-year-old medical student.

He saved them on to discs and kept them at his parents’ home for more than two years before being caught.

In making its determination, the GMC said no concerns were raised about Morton’s clinical care of patients.

He was said to have been “highly regarded” by his clinical colleagues.

However, at yesterday’s review hearing, he did not produce GMC-requested “testimonials from members of the medical profession and persons of standing” on his conduct during the period of suspension.

He told the panel that after being suspended in July 2005, he did not feel able to engage with his medical peers and felt isolated medically.

Morton has not worked as a doctor in Tayside since 2003.

It is understood he completed his medical degree in 2002 and went on to complete a year as a pre-registration house officer (PRHO) in Tayside before becoming fully-registered as a doctor in August 2003.

During his PRHO year, Morton was charged with the porn offences.

Because he was contesting them, he was allowed to complete the year if he did not work under-16s.

It is understood he applied for a number of posts in Tayside prior to his suspension by the GMC last year but was never employed.