Pathologist Freddy Patel suspended
Forensic examiner not allowed to practise for at least four months after botched postmortem delayed murder investigation
The pathologist Dr Freddy Patel whose botched postmortem examination led to a delayed murder investigation has been suspended from the medical register for at least four months.
The General Medical Council had pressed for him to be struck off but an independent fitness to practise panel in London determined that suspension for his misconduct and dishonesty would be "appropriate and proportionate".
The council said Patel, 63, had been reluctant to consider asphyxiation in the murder case, had falsified his CV and failed to redress previous shortcomings.
But lawyers for the forensic examiner argued he had taken steps to improve his professional conduct, and the panel accepted that his dishonesty fell towards the "lower end" of the spectrum.
Patel was suspended from the register for three months last September because of his performance in other cases. He has also been criticised for suggesting the newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson died of natural causes during the G20 protests in London in 2009.
Earlier this month, the disciplinary panel found Patel's 2002 reports on the death of Sally White the first victim of the "Camden ripper" Anthony Hardy were "irresponsible, not of the standard expected of a competent forensic pathologist and liable to bring the medical profession into disrepute".
Patel decided that White, a 31-year-old sex worker, had died of natural causes despite blood staining her clothing, bedding and a wall at Hardy's flat. Patel said she had died of a heart attack during consensual sex. This discouraged a police inves! tigation that might have saved two later victims of Hardy, an earlier hearing was told.
Patel will not be allowed to practise until his case is reviewed and another panel is satisfied he has identified and remedied deficiencies, proven he has attended retraining courses, including on medical ethics, shadowed other pathologists and provided a satisfactory plan that might allow a supervised return to practise.
The mother of another of Hardy's victims condemned the panel's sanction, saying her family were "disgusted and horrified" that he had not been struck off.
Jackie Valad believes her daughter Elizabeth would still be alive if Patel had not concluded in his initial report that White had died of natural causes, because a police investigation would have been launched.
Hardy was sectioned but released later that year and went on to kill Valad, 29, and Bridgette Maclennan, 34, both sex workers. In November 2003, he was given three life sentences.
"It is just not right," said Jackie Valad. "I am sure Elizabeth would have been alive. Hardy would have been locked up. She was so beautiful, kind and reserved. It is heart-breaking she died at such a young age."
In October the National Police Improvement Agency removed Patel from a register of pathologists who can be used in criminal investigations. Both the agency and the Home Office declined to comment.
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