A PSYCHIATRIST has told a jury that all three women claiming to have been sexually attacked by Michael Haslam had suffered from personality disorders.

Dr John Pilgrim said two women who allege they were indecently assaulted by the former York psychiatrist in 1981 had mild, emotionally unstable personality disorders of a borderline type.

A third woman who claimed to have been indecently assaulted and raped in 1988 had suffered from a more severe version of the condition.

He said the disorder affected patients' reliability as witnesses. It could cause them to misinterpret what a doctor had said or done.

Such people were liable to transfer feelings from individuals important in their lives to their doctor, could become infatuated and were suggestible.

It was possible that somebody who had been sexually abused earlier in life could see their psychiatrist as their sexual aggressor.

He said the condition of personality disorder and its implications were not properly known to psychiatrists in Britain in the 1980s.

Haslam, 69, of Crayke, near Easingwold, who is now retired, has denied the five offences.

The alleged rape victim has claimed that during the attack at Clifton Hospital, Haslam's "toupee" had come askew, exposing the bald head beneath.

But a businesswoman who was responsible for his hairpiece in those days told the jury it could not have come askew, even during vigorous exercise.

Lorna Spear said the piece was woven into real hair at the back and on the sides of his head.

"It was secured very tightly," she said, adding that she had footballer customers who had worn her hairpieces during matches with no problems.

Haslam's was held in place at the front of his head with double-sided adhesive tape.

The hair could be lifted by about one-and-a-half inches at the front, "like the flap on an envelope", but no more, she said.

The trial continues.

Updated: 10:45 Thursday, December 04, 2003