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'I hope he rots in hell': Rogue surgeon convicted of performing needless operations for money

Victims have spoken out after a rogue surgeon, who carried out "completely unnecessary" operations on men and women after convincing them they were at high risk of breast cancer, has been convicted on all charges.

Ian Paterson lied to his victims, "exaggerating or quite simply inventing the risk of cancer" in order to claim extra money for carrying out the private procedures.

He left patients "significantly deformed", with one looking like a "car crash victim" after telling them they were at risk from cancer when they were healthy.

Ian Paterson leaving home - Credit: Andrew Fox
Ian Paterson had denied he acted for financial gain Credit: Andrew Fox

The consultant general surgeon "played God" and "exaggerated or invented" risks of tumours, telling one man and nine women harmless lumps needed serious operations.

Scottish-born Paterson, 59, of Castle Mill Lane, Ashley, Altrincham, Greater Manchester, had denied 17 counts of wounding with intent and three counts of unlawful wounding relating to nine men and a woman between 1997 and 2001.

But he was found guilty after a seven-week trial at Nottingham Crown Court.

It can now also be revealed that he was also responsible for hundreds of botched operations on other patients.

Around 1,100 women were forced to undergo the trauma of new tests and examinations when it was discovered there was a risk he had failed to remove all the cancerous tissue from their breasts.

As a result hundreds of women had to have further painful procedures to remove the malignant or potentially malignant tissue left behind by the former consultant surgeon.

One victim, Marian Moran, looked like she had been "in a car crash" after undergoing an "entirely unnecessary" mastectomy.

John Ingram, a former patient of Paterson, gave evidence at the trial - Credit: SWNS
John Ingram, a former patient of Paterson, gave evidence at the trial Credit: SWNS

She said "charming" Paterson carried out the procedure after warning her lumps she had noticed on her left breast were pre-cancerous.

Despite subsequent tests revealing they were benign "little warts" the entire breast was removed in 2004.

Paterson was found to have used an experimental “cleavage sparing” procedures when carrying out breast removal, which left a small amount of tissue for cosmetic reasons.

This breached national guidelines which stated that leaving tissue after a mastectomy increases the likelihood of cancer recurring.

Frances Perks was a victim of the rogue surgeon  - Credit:  Andrew Fox
Frances Perks was a victim of the rogue surgeon and said: "My feelings towards Mr Paterson are that I hate him. I hate him with a passion. I think he's a psychopath." Credit: Andrew Fox

His patients were first notified by the NHS in 2011 that they were at risk and over the following two years it was discovered that the number of women affected by Paterson’s use of the cleavage sparing technique was at least 1,079.

Following the revelations Paterson was barred from operating by the General Medical Council (GMC) in 2011 and the council is shortly expected to resume its investigation into his behaviour.

As a result of the scandal the NHS was forced to pay out around £10 million in compensation to women who were treated by Paterson, with individual payments ranging from £18,000 to £150,000.

The sum to be paid in compensation for around 1,000 cleavage sparing procedures carried out privately by Paterson through Spire could be even higher.

A report on his use of the technique severely criticised NHS managers for failing to stop him earlier.

Paterson was charged with a string of criminal offences after investigators concluded that as well as botching some operations, he had carried out a number of completely unnecessary procedures. 

Frances Perks, 58, lost both her mum and sister to breast cancer and Paterson made sure she was "kept under close surveillance" in 1994.

He carried out multiple core biopsies, cutting into her breast 27 times in random areas of her right breast when there was "no need".

Paterson removed benign lumps over a 10-year period before telling her to have a full mastectomy or risk "full blown cancer".

Frances Perks said: "I saw him for a number of years and thought the operations that I was having were for a reason.

"When you're told that all the operations that you have had had you actually didn't need, it's such a shock.

"My feelings towards Mr Paterson are that I hate him. I hate him with a passion.

"I think he's a psychopath.

"Why would anyone in their right mind do operations to people knowing that they didn't need them?

"You wouldn't be able to print what I think of him, and what I would like to see happen to him.

"I hope he goes down for a very, very long time, and I hope he has a dreadful time in prison.

"I hope he rots in hell. I hate him, with a passion.

"For someone to say that he's not fit to stand trial, the way he acted in court the day I gave evidence - sitting their shaking his head and talking to his daughter - he's not showing signs of someone with a mental disorder.

"He's sitting there confident as anything.

"I can't work at the moment because of how it's affected me.

"Mentally and physically, it's dreadful, especially over the last four years since we were told he was lying.

"You can't get your head round it, you just can't. It's had a big impact, what we both lost and how it's affected us.

"My sister also saw Mr Paterson and she had a couple of operations, and he played heavily on the fact that we'd lost my mum and my older sister.

"He always used to play on that, and say that because of our family history we were high risk.

"We all say the same, he had such a lovely bedside manner.

"You felt that he was genuine and caring, and he just wasn't like a normal consultant. He was very down to earth.

"He'd be very caring and would put you at ease. There wasn't any reason to distrust what he was telling us."

Patricia Welch was told she had pre-cancerous cells in her left breast and they were "on the bad side of cancer".

Paterson exaggerated results and told her she was a "ticking time bomb" before performing a mastectomy on Mrs Welch.

Another victim was left unable to breastfeed her baby after two unnecessary operations removed her milk ducts.

Patricia Welch said: "I haven't really got any words to describe what he is to me. He's just despicable.

"He thinks he can play God with people's lives, and it's just awful what he's been doing.

"He's not a nice person. We were led to believe he was a wonderful man.

"We thought he had our best interests at heart.

"It was just a shock when it turned out that what he'd been doing was all completely wrong.

"I don't know why he did it. It could be monetary, or it could be that he just likes playing God with people's lives."

Julian Christopher QC, prosecuting, told Nottingham Crown Court that the operations carried out by Paterson were ones which "no reasonable surgeon at the time would have considered justified".

The jury was told he was carrying out operations and procedures, not because he thought it was in the best interests of the patient, but for his own perhaps obscure motives.

Mr Christopher said: "Whether to maintain his image as a busy successful surgeon in great demand and at the top of his game, whether to earn extra money by doing extra operations and follow up consultations ... or because Mr Paterson enjoyed the responsibility that came with helping people."

Paterson denied the operations were carried out "for the purpose of financial gain or any other purpose", describing such suggestions as "abhorrent".

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