A VICTIM of disgraced gynaecologist Richard Neale has spoken of her years of pain after he botched an operation to sterilise her.

Barbara Bracchi is calling on the authorities to make sure that Neale - nicknamed The Butcher - is never allowed to operate on another woman.

Mrs Bracchi, 50, of Gainford, in lower Teesdale, County Durham, first met Neale at Northallerton's Friarage Hospital in 1985.

The mother-of-two, who then lived in Northallerton, had opted for a laparoscopic sterilisation operation to seal her fallopian tubes.

The operation, which involves no invasive surgery, seals the tubes with plastic clips so that eggs cannot be contacted by sperm. However, the procedure was carried out incorrectly by Neale.

Mrs Bracchi said: "Richard Neale said he had done the operation thousands of times before on women in Canada.

"After it was carried out, I was very poorly and was in a lot of pain, and I remained in hospital for a few days.

"I eventually went back to see Neale. I told him I was still getting an awful lot of pain - I was bruised and I looked like I had been kicked in the stomach by a horse.

"He just said I had to put up with it and words to the effect that women had to put up with pain."

Mrs Bracchi moved to Gainford with her family in January 1986 and began to live with the fear that she had cancer. The pain remained undiagnosed for years and was particularly bad during her periods.

She said: "I went to see doctors and eventually asked to see a gynaecologist at Darlington Memorial Hospital in 1992.

"All the time, I was trying to hold a job down as an estate agent, but I was quite disabled."

An internal examination revealed that the clips used in the sterilisation operation by Neale had come loose and were floating around, causing the pain. One had become embedded in her bladder.

Said Mrs Bracchi: "I wish now I had never had the operation, after all I have been through. When I did hear about Richard Neale and his past record, everything just clicked in my mind."

Mrs Bracchi, who attended the first day of the General Medical Council inquiry into Neale, is now a member of the action group of ex-patients who have fought for justice.

"I feel very lucky, as I moved before Richard Neale could carry out any more operations on me.

"Some ladies I have met had four operations by him and they are still not right.

"He should not be allowed to operate again on anybody."