Surgeon case abandoned by Canadians
27/05/2003
Barry Nelson

Canadian justice officials have abandoned efforts to prosecute disgraced North Yorkshire surgeon Richard Neale.

The decision follows a legal opinion from senior Justice Ministry lawyers that there was little prospect of Mr Neale being convicted.

It means that lengthy and expensive police investigations on both sides of the Atlantic into Mr Neale's activities as a surgeon have ended with no action being taken.

Two years ago, the Crown Prosecution Service advised North Yorkshire Police that there was little prospect of obtaining a successful conviction against Mr Neale.

It followed an investigation into allegations of assault made against Mr Neale by a number of his former patients.

It is a bitter blow to Kathy Tanner, the Canadian woman who flew to London three years ago to confront Mr Neale as he arrived for the General Medical Council (GMC) hearing that would strike him off.

Mrs Tanner, whose mother, Geraldine Krawchuk, died after Mr Neale gave her a banned drug to induce labour in 1981, said last night: "I am devastated. I still can't believe it, I am so shocked.

"I feel the justice system has failed my mother."

For the past two years, police in Oshawa, Ontario, have been investigating 32 allegations against Mr Neale, which range from medical malpractice to suspicious deaths.

They relate to Mr Neale's career in the Canadian health service before he took up a position as consultant gynaecologist at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

Mr Neale began working at a hospital in British Columbia in 1977 but in 1979, after he lost all operating privileges following the deaths of two patients under his care, he removed himself from the British Columbia register and moved to Ontario.

Six years later he was struck off the Ontario medical register after the death of Mrs Krawchuk.

By the time he was struck off by the Ontario medical authorities he was already operating on patients in Northallerton.

After a campaign by more than 200 former patients of Mr Neale, the surgeon was struck off by the GMC in the summer of 2000.

Thirty-four out of 35 allegations of misconduct were proven, including botching operations, lying to patients and altering records.

The Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, is to give evidence to the private inquiry into the Neale scandal.