Psychiatrist led double life on dark web paedophile site helping others 'avoid detection'

A "MORALLY reprehensible" NHS psychiatrist, who led a secret double life as a moderator on a dark web site used by 90,000 paedophiles across the globe, once worked with vulnerable children.

Dr Kabir Garg, 33, (above) who was jailed for six years on Friday, June 23 after admitting to a string of offences in connection with the website, spent about six months working with troubled children and teenagers at the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service of Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Trust from early 2019.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) which prosecuted Garg said there was no evidence to suggest Garg had offended in connection with his NHS work and he appeared to have led two separate lives.

A Hertfordshire trust spokeswoman said: "Kabir Garg worked as trainee doctor with the trust between 2018 and 2020. During his time there were no concerns raised about his practice."

Garg admitted the offences earlier this year as we revealed in May.

In public Garg was an up and coming psychiatrist who spoke at conferences, wrote academic papers and shared professional updates on his Twitter account.

His training journey is detailed on the website of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and he helped produce a paper about migrant doctors who were stranded in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic.

Garg first qualified in India where he hails from a wealthy family of psychiatrists based in Agra, close to the Taj Mahal.

He was a senior resident at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences in Bengaluru, India, from August 2016, the same year he married.

But, according to a source, when Garg first came to the UK in September 2018, he was reluctant to bring his wife with him and later launched divorce proceedings in February 2020.

The NCA said he secretly joined the website "The Annex" four months later, but dedicated time and effort to becoming sufficiently trusted to be invited to be a moderator under the user name Morningwood, who expressed interest in rape, bondage and punishment of underage girls.

Before work he spent about two hours a day advising other users how to access and share child abuse images and evade detection, Woolwich Crown Court heard.

In August 2021 he moved to South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and into a flat in Lewisham, where he was arrested last November during an international operation with his laptop open on his moderator account.

The site had been taken over by the FBI in the US just months earlier.

The source said: "The divorce is still to go through and his wife is now a doctor in the UK and soon after his arrest the NCA came to see her. She had no idea about any of his activities and gave a statement last December.

"He has brought shame on his family in India."

The court heard that hundreds of links to child abuse material were shared every day on the site.

The Annex, which is no longer active, was run like a company and had a team of around 30 administrators, who worked in shifts around the clock to ensure its smooth running.

Garg was responsible for enforcing the rules of the site and removing members who did not comply.

NCA officers recovered chat logs from his devices which showed posts, messages and files which clearly demonstrated his sexual interest in children.

Over 7,000 images and videos of child abuse were also recovered.

Garg also had a number of studies on his laptop, acquired as part of his job, about the psychological impact of child abuse on victims, that showed he was well aware of this.

He pleaded guilty in January to eight charges, including facilitating the sexual exploitation of children, three counts each of making and distributing indecent images of children, and possession of prohibited images.

The court heard Garg turned to the website after the breakdown of his marriage, but Judge Jonathan Mann KC said his acts were deliberate and not spontaneous.