A doctor who grabbed his colleague’s breast after sexually harassing her over months has been struck off.

Dr Frabrizio De Rita, a child heart surgeon at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital, pinged her bra strap and grabbed her left breast through her clothing on separate occasions three months apart.

The Italian-trained doctor, who has since left the country, had previously made hand gestures of pinching the woman’s nipples and claimed she was ‘going red’ afterwards, a medical tribunal was told.

A hearing which concluded last week struck off Dr De Rita saying his behaviour “constituted sexual harassment”.

It added that he had abused his position as a more senior member of staff and his actions were sexually motivated. It concluded his fitness to practice as a doctor was impaired.

The incidents happened at various times over a five to six month spell when they culminated with Dr De Rita grabbing the woman’s chest.

The hearing said it had not been provided with “any evidence of insight, regret or apology” on behalf of the doctor, only that during an investigation by the hospital he said he would not have intended to cause any upset.

It was told he had no previous history of misconduct and was “well regarded nationally and internationally” in his job, working as a consultant paediatric cardiothoracic surgeon at the time.

Erasing him from the medical register, tribunal chair Miss Debi Gould said: “Mr De Rita appears to be a highly skilled surgeon and as such represents a significant resource, however, the nature of the misconduct found in this case against a background of no explanation, insight or remediation and indicative of a significant attitudinal issue, made erasure necessary, appropriate, and proportionate.”

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A spokesperson for Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “As a signatory of NHS England’s Sexual Safety in Healthcare charter, we have committed to take appropriate action in all cases regardless of the seniority or role of the perpetrator.

“The day after the complaint was received, Mr De Rita was suspended from work pending investigation.

“He has not worked in Newcastle Hospitals since that date.”