Worcestershire Surgeon Told To Pay More Than £330,000

6 June 2019, 07:22 | Updated: 6 June 2019, 07:23

NHS

A rogue surgeon in Worcestershire - who lied to land a top hospital job - has been ordered to pay back more than £330,000.

Sudip Sarker was jailed for six years in February last year after duping a panel of interviewers into believing he had performed 51 out of 85 keyhole bowel operations working solo, when the true figure was just six.

On Friday, the 50-year-old was told to pay £337,214.78 within three months under the Proceeds of Crime Act or face another three and a half years in prison, West Mercia Police said.

Sarker earned the money while working for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust during 2011 and 2015.

His incompetence led to his former employer facing more than £2 million in medical negligence payouts.

Sarker, formerly of Botany Road, Broadstairs, Kent, was convicted of fraud after a trial at Worcester Crown Court, where a jury was told he had a "higher mortality rate" among his patients and a far higher complication rate.

Detective Inspector Emma Wright from the force's Economic Crime Unit said: "West Mercia Police is committed to tackling serious and organised crime in order to protect vulnerable people from harm. This includes removing assets from those who have benefited from the proceeds of such crime.

"The proceeds of crime legislation is a powerful tool in the fight for justice and removing assets from the offender to rightly reimburse the victims of their crime, even if they have been subject to a custodial sentence.

"The order granted in respect of Sarker represents the results of a time-consuming criminal investigation and linked financial investigation and we thank the victim in this case, the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, for their full co-operation throughout.

"Results such as these mean that those who benefit from offences will be stripped of their assets and demonstrates that ultimately crime does not pay."