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A hypnotherapist filmed himself sexually abusing a 19-year-old patient while she was in a trance-like state. Philip Sherwin (47) also had more than 40,000 indecent images of children on his computer. After admitting the offences, he was jailed for 18 months at Leicester Crown Court yesterday. Sentencing, Judge Simon Hammond said Sherwin had exploited a 'vulnerable, fragile young woman'. The judge said: 'The defendant was acting in the capacity of a medical practitioner. He abused the trust of a woman who went to him for help. 'He groomed her and created a situation where he could touch her and exploit her vulnerable state and filmed the abuse.' Sherwin, of Balfour Street, off Woodgate, Leicester, had twice successfully hypnotised the victim to help with anxiety attacks, gaining her trust, before recruiting her as 'a guinea-pig for research'. He told her to take her trousers off so he could 'remove the energy' from her legs and then touched her intimately. He filmed the incident and also took photos.
