A THERAPIST who faces being struck off over allegations he groped and bullied patients has accused them of pre-fabricating a photograph of him smoking cannabis.

When asked to explain images of him allegedly smoking a spliff during a party with patients at his Gale Cente practice in Loughton, Derek Gale told the Health Professions Council (HPC): "It seems that it is very easy to Photoshop these things. Whatever this thing is - it is easy to remove and replace with something else.

"These photographs are said to have come from [former patient] 'GS', and there's nothing he can't do with computers - put it that way."

Mr Gale said that the last time he smoked cannabis was in California in 1972, and that he did not allow illegal drug use by anyone during his physcodrama workshops.

He added: "If it could be proved to me that these are genuine, I still could not say what they depict. I might be holding something someone else rolled, or it could be a pencil - I do own a pencil that looks like that."

To support his case Mr Gale provided the committee with the same image, but altered to show him holding a wineglass instead.

But the panel said the poor quality of Mr Gale's picture only served to prove how difficult it is to convincingly 'doctor' a photgraph.

The photographs, which also allegedly show Mr Gale rolling a spliff, were a late submission in the case and Bo Eun Jung, presenting the case on behalf of the HPC, said: "Do you remember in cross-examination I said to you that it was lucky for you that there were no photographs of you smoking cannabis? Well I am going to suggest that your luck has changed, Mr Gale."

Mr Gale, 59, of Whitakers Way, Loughton, denies an extensive list of allegations of misconduct which relate to his care of several patients over the past 25 years.

He is said to have made patients call him 'Daddy', read them bedtime stories, pinched a woman's breast, offered them "unlimited sex", and allowed patients to bite and spit at each other.

He is also alleged to have pressured them into spending Christmas day with him, taken holidays with them, forced them to help rebuild and renovate his practice, and asked them to cut his hair and provide free business advice.

The HPC's conduct and competence committee is set to make its decision in June. If it finds the case to be 'well-founded' Mr Gale could be cautioned, suspended for a year, or struck of the Register of Health Professionals.