A disgraced Scots breast surgeon who performed years of unnecessary operations has lost a bid to challenge his convictions at the Court of Appeal.
Ian Paterson was found guilty of 17 counts of wounding patients with intent, against 10 victims, at Nottingham Crown Court in 2017.
Paterson carried out unnecessary operations in NHS and private hospitals, exaggerating or inventing cancer risks and claiming payments for dearer procedures.
He was jailed for 15 years but Court of Appeal judges increased his tariff to 20 years in 2018.
The former doctor asked three senior judges for the go-ahead to challenge his convictions as unsafe yesterday, but was refused.
The court was told that he “denied, and indeed continues to deny, the misconduct of which he was accused at his trial”.
His barrister, Joel Bennathan QC, argued that the wrong legal test had been used during Paterson’s trial.
The court heard the trial prosecution had argued that, although the patients had signed consent forms, they could not consent to the operations because they were based on advice that no responsible body of breast surgeons would have given to the patient.
The prosecution also argued that Paterson knew no responsible group of surgeons would have advised patients in such a way.
Mr Bennathan later questioned whether a doctor who had acted in a way they thought was best – even if other doctors disagreed – would be convicted.
Dame Victoria Sharp, sitting with Mrs Justice Cutts and Sir Nigel Davis, refused the bid and said that their reasons will be given in writing at a later date.
In September 2017, more than 750 patients who had been treated by Paterson received compensation payouts from a £37million fund.
