£6,000 pledged for Neale fight
27/03/2002

More than £6,000 has been pledged to try to win a public inquiry into the Richard Neale scandal.

Campaigners representing 250 victims of the North Yorkshire surgeon need at least £10,000 to mount a legal challenge.

The women are unhappy that the Government's investigation into the Neale affair is to be held behind closed doors with the Press and public excluded.

Last Friday, the group appealed to readers of The Northern Echo to help them carry on their fight.

Yesterday campaigners said they were well on the way to hitting their target after a generous response from readers and other supporters.

Sheila Wright-Hogeland, a victim of the former Friarage Hospital surgeon, who founded the campaign group three and a half years ago, said: "It is looking really good. We are still pushing to get the rest of the money we need."

Mrs Wright-Hogeland said it had been "moving" to hear from strangers who had offered cash to the campaign group.

After spending more than £100,000 of her own money pursuing the struck-off surgeon, Mrs Wright-Hogeland decided she could not afford to fund the next stage of the group's legal battle.

The cash is needed to allow a crack team of lawyers to prepare a formal application to the Court of Appeal.

Campaigners, who include injured former patients from County Durham and North Yorkshire, believe a public inquiry is vital.

There are concerns that the surgeon worked for so long in the UK after being struck off in Canada, and over the way in which the NHS handled complaints against him.