A BARRISTER who represented disgraced surgeon Richard Neale has been ordered to appear before the chairman of a professional complaints committee over his future conduct.

Former patients of the former North Yorkshire gynaecologist wrote to the Professional Conduct and Complaints Committee of the Bar Council alleging barrister Malcolm Fortune used overly aggressive cross-examination of witnesses.

The committee found there was no evidence of misconduct, but said one part of the complaint gave "rise for concern".

In a letter from the committee, seen by The Northern Echo, it said there had been a "clear technical breach of the rules" as to the use of photocopies of a patient's diary used by Neale's legal team without formal consent. The harrowing diaries belonged to Sheila Wright-Hogeland, of Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire.

The committee said a breach of the rules should not have taken place, despite there being no evidence of misconduct.

"It is in this regard that Mr Fortune has been directed to attend upon the chairman of the committee to be advised as to his future conduct, and his responsibility to comply with the rules," it said.

But Graham Maloney, a spokesman for former patients of Richard Neale, said: "If barristers are breaking the rules they should be properly reprimanded. A telling off is just not good enough. We need to highlight the fact that this is totally unacceptable."

He said the group would be passing their complaint onto the Legal Ombudsman to highlight the seriousness of the technical breach and that it should not be allowed to happen again.

Le Brasseur J Tickle, the Leeds solicitors which briefed Mr Fortune on the Neale case, declined to comment.

Mr Neale, a former surgeon at The Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, was struck off last July by the General Medical Council's Professional Conduct Committee.

He was found guilty of performing operations without consent, sub-standard surgery and unnecessary procedures. He was also found to have lied about his qualifications.

North Yorkshire Police are still consulting with the Crown Prosecution Service as to whether or not to bring criminal charges against him after three patients died while in his care.

Read more about the Neale inquiryhere.

Updated: 13.05 Wednesday, June 27