AN A&E specialist doctor who had extreme porn on his computer and laptop has escaped a prison sentence.

Dr Gautam Ray, 52, from Plumpton Green near Lewes, was told the videos and images were so serious he could be jailed.

But instead magistrates gave him a six-month suspended sentence.

Brighton Magistrates Court heard his 27-year career as a doctor at the Accident and Emergency Department at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath came to an end when police seized his computers at his cottage on August 17 and found videos of women having sex with horses.

Andrew Walker, prosecuting, told the court: “Police executed a warrant and seized his computer and laptop for analysis."

They found a 36-second clip of a woman having sex with a horse plus another lasting 3 seconds of a female removing nails skewered through her breasts.

There was also a scene of a naked woman with whip marks tied to a table with bolt cutters attached to her genitals

Rod Hayler, defending,said the father of two had resigned from his job after his arrest.

He said: “He resigned from his job. He accepted all trust in him would be lost.

“He stepped away from a career 27 years in the making and a significant salary which provided for his family.

“He took up a job emptying bins, picking up litter and maintaining gardens almost to demonstrate his sense of shame to the world.”

He also took a ten-week course with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation which works to prevent child sex abuse.

Ray pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing extreme porn involving animals and two of having extreme pornographic images portraying acts likely to result in serious injury to a person’s private parts.

Magistrates decided the offences were so serious they crossed the custody threshold but spared the former doctor jail.

Ray was given a suspended sentence of six months for one year.

Chair of magistrates John Tierney said: “We have decided the custody threshold has been passed as the images were so extreme and violent.

“We sentence you to six months imprisonment but will suspend the sentence for twelve months because we have decided from what we have heard about your rehabilitation you have taken part in and everything you have done to address your problem.

“You have committed an offence so it is necessary to protect the public from serious harm from you.”

He must do 200 hours unpaid work plus 20 rehabilitation activity days and pay £150 costs with £115 victim surcharge.

He will also have to sign the Sex Offenders Register for five years and is subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years.

A spokesman for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Princess Royal, said: “As soon as Dr Ray was arrested, he was suspended and he no longer works for us.”

The General Medical Council also suspended the University of London graduate’s licence to practise medicine.

An interim order was made on October 17 and the GMC will now pursue an investigation following the end of criminal proceedings.