A DOCTOR worked at a prison and a private clinic when he was suspended by the General Medical Council, a court was told yesterday.

Dr Michael Donnelly, 53, was escorted from Holme House Prison, in Stockton, when the authorities learnt that he had been suspended for 18 months for suspected "repeated dysfunctional and dishonest behaviour", said Stephen Ashurst, prosecuting.

Dr Donnelly was earning £46,000 a year on a temporary one-year contract from September 1999, at the prison medical centre and £25-an-hour for a day's work at the Northern Slimming Clinic, in Stockton, from February 2000.

He failed to notify them that he was suspended for 18 months on August 31, 2000, and applied for a permanent medical officer's post at Holme House with the prison service in October 2000.

He attended the London suspension hearing of the GMC's Interim Orders Committee on August 31, 2000, when he was represented by a barrister and solicitor, and he was sent a reminder notice of the findings on September 5, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Mr Ashurst said: "He continued to work for both organisations and to retain his fees. His motive was very clear. If he had told the truth he knew his employment would have been in jeopardy and he would lose his income.

"By January 2001, the GMC contacted the prison and the governor saw to it that he was dismissed immediately and escorted from the premises, but he continued working at the slimming clinic until the end of May and his arrest in June."

Dr Donnelly of Demesne Court, Wolsingham, County Durham, pleads not guilty to two charges of obtaining a pecuniary advantage and one of attempting to do so between August 2000 and June last year.

The case continues.