London: A disabled pensioner who peddled alternative medicine as a cover to molest women has been jailed for eight years.

Reginald Gill, 77, used a bizarre electrical probe to falsely diagnose that his victims had cancer.

He then carried out intrusive physical examinations of his naked "patients" before claiming that he had cured them.

Gill was aided at his homeopathic medical practice by his 35-year-old wife, Leila. She was jailed for six months yesterday.

Swansea Crown Court heard that Gill had told his patients that he had been a doctor in the British Army. In reality he had no medical training and had only served in the catering corps.

Judge Keith Thomas told him his depraved actions represented a "gross betrayal of trust".

But it was accepted his wife was manipulated and would not have offended without his influence.

The pair ran their homeopathic products and treatments business in the quiet West Wales village of Cwmduad, near Carmarthen. It enabled them to prey on victims who had lost faith in the NHS, charging them £120 (Dh696) a time for each bogus session they underwent.

Gill was found guilty of nine separate sex offences and two fraud charges at the start of February.

His wife was found guilty of one sexual offence and one of fraud.

Gill carried out what he described as physical "scans" on his victims using his hands. He then claimed to have cured both women as a result of his intrusive techniques. But neither had ever had cancer.

He also used an IFAS machine, regarded as dangerous and unproven by the medical profession, to insert an electrical probe inside his victims. Gill claimed the device killed cancer by releasing high frequency electrical waves and ozone into the body.

He went on to sell them to vulnerable people who came to him for help at £2,200 a time.

After his conviction it emerged that Gill already had a conviction for indecent assault going back to 1975. He was also convicted and jailed in 2004 for a Trade Descriptions Act offence in which he persuaded a real cancer victim to cease conventional treatment.

He was jailed yesterday following two failed attempts to sentence him over the past six weeks.

Last month Gill arrived at court on his motorised scooter but quickly suffered what was described as an "attack". He was taken to hospital by ambulance and kept in overnight and the sentencing hearing was adjourned to a later date.

It followed a previous hearing which was adjourned when Gill left court complaining of ill health.

John Hipkin, representing Gill, said: "The whole quack enterprise may have had its origin in the defendant's own disability."

He asked the judge to be lenient on passing sentence due to Gill's advanced age and ill health.