GP sentenced following sexual offence conviction

A GP from Somerset has been sentenced for attempting to cause a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

Dr Nicolas Chapman, aged 55, was convicted by a jury on 15 June and sentenced to a 12-month community order and 200 hours of unpaid work at Gloucestershire Crown Court today.

In September 2021 Chapman gave a woman a cup of coffee into which he had deposited his semen. The woman, concerned that a substance had been placed in her drink, reported her suspicions to the police. 

The woman had first noticed an unknown substance in the coffee being given to her by Chapman almost a year earlier in late 2020, but it did not occur to her what it might have been. As her suspicions grew, she continued tipping away the drinks that Chapman provided. 

She eventually decided to contact the police, having gathered contents of the coffee given to her on the 13 September. Laboratory analysis showed that the coffee contained semen, and that the DNA was a match for the defendant.

Gemma Kneebone, of the CPS, said: “Nicholas Chapman was convicted of an unusual and vulgar offence against a person he knew.

“By putting his semen into a cup of coffee in the hope that someone he had targeted would drink it, he betrayed a common gesture of kindness for his own sexual gratification. His actions have had a far reaching and profound impact on others.”