PARAMEDIC JAILED FOR SECRETLY ABORTING WOMAN’S PREGNANCY IN SHOCKING BETRAYAL
Sentencing update 07/07/2025 Paramedic Jailed for Secretly Aborting Woman’s Pregnancy in Shocking Betrayal Edinburgh, Scotland — A respected paramedic and former TV documentary star has been jailed for more than a decade after covertly injecting a woman with abortion drugs, leading to the death of their unborn child in a calculated and devastating betrayal.Stephen Doohan, 33, a clinical team leader with the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS), was sentenced to 10 years and six months after pleading guilty to assault, sexual assault, and causing a woman to miscarry without her knowledge or consent.
The High Court in Glasgow heard that Doohan crushed abortion pills and administered them to the unsuspecting woman via syringe as she lay in bed at his Edinburgh home in 2023.
The woman, who believed she was in a consensual relationship with Doohan, had no idea he was married at the time they met during a trip to Spain in 2021.
Planned Deception and Heinous Act Judge Lord Colbeck condemned Doohan’s actions as “almost as serious as any this court is ever asked to sentence,” describing how the paramedic "researched, planned, and executed" the deception using medical knowledge and resources gained through his role.
"You manipulated the woman and executed your plan under the guise of consensual sexual activity," the judge said, adding that the victim’s statement “radiates with raw pain.” A Secret Unveiled The horrifying ordeal unfolded shortly after the woman learned she was pregnant in March 2023.
A few days later, she visited Doohan’s home in the Grange area, unaware that he was preparing to end her pregnancy against her will.
She experienced severe stomach cramps the next day and was later given diazepam by Doohan — only to wake up and find him initiating sexual activity while she was still under the drug’s effects.
Suspicious and frightened, she later discovered crushed pills and a syringe hidden under his mattress.
Online searches confirmed her worst fears: they were abortion-inducing drugs.
Despite his initial denials, Doohan eventually admitted he had administered the pills, claiming he was “scared” and falsely stating they wouldn’t work due to an incorrect dose.
Cover-Up and Collapse In a disturbing attempt to silence her, Doohan gave the woman perfume and football tickets, pleading with her not to tell hospital staff the truth.
But after she collapsed in the shower and required emergency care, she refused to allow him into the examination room.
A miscarriage was later confirmed.
The woman bravely reported him to the ambulance service, who quickly alerted police.
Doohan was arrested shortly after.
‘A Fundamental Breach of Trust’ Fiona Kirkby, Scotland’s procurator fiscal for high court sexual offences, called it a “calculated and heinous” act that robbed the woman of her future.
"This was a fundamental breach of trust.
I hope this prosecution sends a clear message to anyone who seeks to inflict sexual harm upon women," she said.
Doohan, once featured in BBC’s Paramedics on Scene, has since been fired from the SAS.
The organisation expressed deep horror at the case, praising the victim’s courage and offering continued support.
A Legacy of Trauma Prosecutors said the woman remains significantly affected by her ordeal, both physically and emotionally.
Lord Colbeck also imposed a lifetime non-harassment order against Doohan.
Mark Stewart KC, defending, said Doohan was "deeply sorry" and had been experiencing personal difficulties, though the court made clear this did not excuse his crimes.
Justice and Outrage Public outrage has grown following the sentencing, with many demanding stricter safeguards against the misuse of medical knowledge and access.
“This is more than a criminal act — it’s a violation of trust, autonomy, and life itself,” said one women's rights advocate.
“The justice system has rightly taken it seriously.
Now we need to ensure this never happens again.” In a disturbing case that has shocked the community in Edinburgh, Stephen Doohan, a 33-year-old who held the position of Clinical Team Leader with the Scottish Ambulance Service, has been implicated in a serious criminal matter involving the administration of an abortion drug.
The incident took place in his upscale residence located in the prestigious Grange area of Edinburgh during 2023.
According to reports, the woman involved was pregnant with Doohan's child.
She discovered her pregnancy in March 2023 and, in a troubling turn of events, was secretly given crushed pills by Doohan while she was lying on a bed inside his home.
The situation escalated as he continued to administer the drug over subsequent days, which led to severe health complications for the woman.
She experienced fainting spells and intense pain, prompting her to seek medical attention at local hospitals.
Ultimately, her condition resulted in a miscarriage.
Further investigations revealed that Doohan had not only administered the pills but also attempted to conceal his actions.
He urged the woman not to report the incident, offering her gifts in an effort to keep her silent.
Evidence also showed that he had researched abortion tablets online, specifically misoprostol, which is used for managing miscarriages or inducing abortions.
The woman managed to record a conversation in which Doohan confessed to inserting the syringe and confirmed that he had been researching the drug.
Following her decision to report the matter to authorities, Doohan was swiftly arrested.
During police interviews, he initially denied the allegations but later admitted guilt to charges including assault, sexual assault, and causing a woman to have an abortion.
His court appearance was marked by a guilty plea, and the judge warned him that he faces a lengthy prison sentence.
As part of his sentencing, Doohan was placed on the sex offenders register.
It was also revealed that he had checked for medical information about misoprostol on the very day the woman disclosed her pregnancy, indicating premeditation.
At his sentencing hearing, Doohan’s legal representative expressed remorse, stating he was 'deeply sorry' and that he was experiencing mental health issues at the time of the offenses.
Despite this, the judge emphasized the seriousness of his actions, making it clear that a significant custodial sentence was inevitable.
Currently residing in Kirkliston near Edinburgh, Doohan’s case has raised serious questions about professional conduct and the safety of women in the community.
Sentencing Statement Jul 7, 2025 At the High Court in Glasgow Lord Colbeck sentenced Stephen Doohan to 10 years and 6 months imprisonment after the offender pled guilty to assault to injury, sexual assault and procuring an abortion.
On sentencing Lord Colbeck made the following remarks in court: "Stephen Doohan, at a preliminary hearing on 16 May 2025, you pled guilty to two charges arising out of assaults carried out by you.
Firstly, to assaulting and sexually assaulting your then partner by depositing misoprostol into her vagina and thus causing her to abort her unborn child to her injury, that offence being aggravated by the abuse of your then partner.
Secondly, to depositing the misoprostol with the intent to cause her to abort, and to causing her to abort, that offence being similarly aggravated.
The circumstances of the offences, and the appalling consequences of them, were narrated to the court when the case last called.
You met your victim while on holiday in Ibiza.
You began a long-distance relationship with her, despite the fact that you were already married.
She was initially unaware of this, however, the relationship continued after you disclosed that to her.
You would see each other approximately once a month.
During the relationship, you told her that you did not want children.
She took a pregnancy test which revealed that she was pregnant.
She told you that she was pregnant and that the child was your’s.
The same day she travelled to Edinburgh to visit you.
You discussed matters with her and agreed to keep the baby and rent somewhere to live together in Edinburgh.
By that time you had separated from your wife.
That evening you engaged in sexual activity with her.
The lights were off and she was lying on her back.
You digitally penetrated her vagina and then pulled her down to the bottom of the bed.
You were kneeling on the floor when she felt the mattress being moved.
She thought nothing of this at the time.
She then felt something hard being inserted into her vagina.
She initially assumed this was a sex toy and was not suspicious of your actions at that time.
The following day, she was out for lunch with you and felt a gush coming from her vagina.
She went to the toilet to check what this was and observed what she described as a clumpy, chalky white substance on her underwear.
You insisted that you see the white substance, telling her that it was vaginal discharge.
She quickly dismissed this, given the texture of the substance.
Soon thereafter she began to have stomach cramps and returned to your flat.
Later that evening, she took diazepam to help with the pain she was experiencing from the stomach cramps.
She described being in a deep sleep and woke to find you initiating sexual contact.
Again, you pulled her to the end of the bed.
She felt you, again, put your hand under the mattress, before inserting your fingers into her vagina.
She felt something hard enter her vagina and thereafter the mattress being lifted.
She was suspicious of your actions but still felt the effects of the diazepam.
A few hours later, you got up and went to the toilet.
She took the opportunity to look under the mattress, finding a plastic syringe containing crushed tablets which had been pushed to the end of the syringe.
Next to the syringe were two white tablets.
Your victim then carried out an internet search for ‘abortion tablet’ which returned images that matched the tablets she had found beneath the mattress.
She confronted you over your actions.
You initially denied what you had done, before admitting it, but telling her the tablets had not worked.
She checked your phone and found that you had been researching the topic of abortion.
Two days later she attended the Edinburgh Royal infirmary with you due to worsening pain from her stomach cramps.
You told her that you would be arrested if she told the truth and you discussed with her that she should say that she had obtained the tablets from ‘a friend of a friend’.
She did this and said she had attempted the termination herself but had since changed her mind.
Before speaking to the medical staff, you rehearsed with her what she was going to say.
The attending midwife recalled that she was distressed and concerned about the baby, yet you appeared quiet and expressionless.
You returned with her to your flat.
She began to bleed heavily from her vagina and was in pain.
The following morning she passed out after taking a shower.
She noticed that the bleeding was getting heavier and she was in a lot of pain.
You travelled with her to her home.
Due to ongoing concerns, she attended the local hospital, accompanied by you and her sister.
She asked her sister to ensure that you did not come into the examination room so that she could disclose the full circumstances to the medical staff.
Blood samples were taken which showed decreasing levels of HCG hormone.
She was told that she was having a miscarriage.
In May 2023 your victim made a complaint to your then employer, the Scottish Ambulance Service.
As a result of that investigation, the police were contacted and in due course you were arrested.
The Scottish Ambulance Service investigation disclosed that the day she told you that she was pregnant, your login accessed the misoprostol drug monograph on the Joint Royal Colleges Ambulance Liaison Committee application.
This is the only time that your login has been used to access this monograph since the application had been developed approximately 3 years previously.
The monograph accessed by you provides information relating to the use of misoprostol, including reference to the presentation of the drug, possible side effects, preparation of the dose and guidance on dosage and administration.
Accused You are 33 years of age.
You have no previous convictions.
You appear before this court as a first offender.
A number of references have been produced on your behalf.
It is clear from those references that you have, previously, made a number of valuable contributions to the community.
Nevertheless, they say little, if anything, of what caused you to act in the way you did.
Seriousness of Offences In determining the headline sentence I am first required to assess the seriousness of the present offences.
The seriousness of an offence is determined by two things: the culpability of the offender and the harm caused, or which might have been caused, by the offence.
Culpability In assessing culpability, the court requires to assess the blameworthiness of the offender at the time of committing the offence.
The factors relevant to the assessment of culpability in your case are that you researched and planned what you did to your victim, using resources available to you in your role as a paramedic, before manipulating your victim and executing that plan under the guise of consensual sexual activity, abusing the position of trust you were in with her.
You intended to cause harm to your victim and did so.
Once your actions had been uncovered you persuaded your victim to lie to medical staff and left her in what can only have been considerable pain and indescribable anguish over the prospect of losing her child before she did, in fact, do so.
Harm An offence will, generally, be regarded as more serious the greater the amount of harm caused.
You have pled guilty to causing your victim to abort.
In doing so, you put her through considerable pain over a number of days and have left her facing a lifetime of pain and loss.
The effects of what you did to her are eloquently set out in the victim statement provided to the court.
Anyone reading that statement would be moved by its terms and by the raw pain that radiates from it.
In addition to the physical pain you caused, your actions have caused clearly significant and long term psychological injury.
Taken together, the offences committed by you are, frankly, almost as serious as any this court is ever asked to sentence.
Aggravating and Mitigating Factors I turn to consider the aggravating and mitigating factors present in this case.
As I have had regard to the planned nature of what you did, I do not treat it as an aggravating factor.
I have regard to the statutory aggravation of each of the charges you pled guilty to.
In terms of mitigating factors, I recognise that you are remorseful and have not offended previously.
That, however, is of limited weight.
I recognise and have regard to the fact that you have certain mental health issues, as explained in the reports that are before the court.
I have regard also to the contents of the CJSWR and to all that has been said on your behalf today by Mr Stewart KC.
The fact that you are assessed as being of a low level of risk is, perhaps, unsurprising having regard to your age and lack of previous convictions.
You are assessed as being of a medium risk of sexual reoffending solely on account of your age.
Those assessments are, however, of little moment.
Sentence As a first offender, you have the protection of the statutory provision which prevents a court from passing a sentence of imprisonment on a person who has not been previously sentenced to imprisonment or detention unless the court considers that no other method of dealing with him is appropriate.
The gravity of the crimes you have committed are such that there is no alternative to a lengthy prison sentence in this case.
Such a sentence is, in my assessment, necessary to punish you as a consequence of your criminal behaviour; and to express society’s concern about and disapproval of that behaviour.
Taking all this in to account, and having regard to the principle that a sentence should be no more severe than is necessary to achieve the appropriate purposes of sentencing in each case, I have concluded that, had you been convicted after trial, I would have imposed a cumulo sentence of 14 years imprisonment in relation to the two charges you have pled guilty to.
I am, however, required to take into account your plea of guilty.
Your pleas of guilty came at a preliminary hearing.
As a consequence, the headline sentence will be reduced by 3 years’ 6 months.
Accordingly, the sentence of the court is one of 10 years 6 months imprisonment.
That will run from today’s date.
No part of the sentence is separately attributable to the domestic abuse aggravations.
The domestic abuse element of these charges is inherent in the offences themselves and the court has had regard to that in fixing the sentence imposed.
SONR When you pled guilty, the court certified that the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 apply in your case.
As a result of the sentence now imposed, you are subject to those requirements indefinitely.
PVG As you have been convicted of a relevant offence, I am satisfied that it may be appropriate for you to be listed as unsuitable to work with both children and protected adults.
The court will give any prescribed information it holds in relation to you to the Scottish Ministers.
I direct that the referral be recorded in the record of proceedings.
NHO I am satisfied that it is appropriate to impose a non-harassment order in order to protect your victim.
For an indeterminate period, you are prohibited from approaching or contacting, or attempting to approach or contact, her by any means whatsoever.
