A MAN who sexually assaulted a pregnant woman in hospital after leading her to believe he was a heart doctor deserved every day of his sentence, judges ruled.

Gregory Boyle, 59, attacked the vulnerable woman as she lay on a bed at the Princess Royal University Hospital, in Orpington, Kent, in 2015.

She had been led to believe he was a heart doctor and Boyle, of Mount Close, Pound Hill, Crawley, did nothing to correct her.

In fact, he worked for a company which made ultrasound devices and used one of his devices to assault her.

The attack was halted when a nurse arrived and quizzed Boyle, who was arrested at the scene.

He admitted sexual assault and two counts of assault by penetration and was jailed for six years and four months at Croydon Crown Court in May. He appealed yesterday, but three senior judges at the Court of Appeal in London said he deserved what he got for such serious crimes.

“This victim was a pregnant woman,” said Mr Justice William Davis, sitting with Sir Brian Leveson and Mrs Justice May.

“She was highly vulnerable to a sexual attack by a man she thought was a doctor.”

The court heard the expecting father believed Boyle was a cardiologist and was not corrected.

He visited the woman in hospital after being asked by the man, who wanted a second opinion on a condition his partner was suffering from.

On the ward, Boyle sexually assaulted her but then the nurse arrived, the judge said.

Boyle later claimed he had been too embarrassed to reveal that he was not a doctor, as the woman’s partner believed.

He met up with the man in a pub, was asked to visit the woman and “things thereafter got out of hand”, he claimed.

Appealing, his lawyers claimed that the woman was not “particularly vulnerable”, while the offence was not as serious as the sentencing judge thought.

But Mr Justice Davis responded: “That wholly misapprehends the seriousness of the offending for which Mr Boyle was sentenced.”

The appeal was dismissed.