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Dr Freddy Patel |
G20 pathologist is suspended amid claims of broken post mortem rules
Expert who said murder victim had died naturally faces new inquiry over protester’s death
THE pathologist who ruled one of Camden Ripper serial killer Anthony Hardy’s victims died of natural causes has been suspended by the pathologists’ monitoring board following a second controversy, the New Journal can reveal.
Dr Freddy Patel, who had been on a government register of accredited pathologists, was suspended on June 2 amid concern he was not following Home Office regulations
He was suspended by the Pathology Delivery Board after it emerged he did not meet requirements to have a contract with a police force and was not a member of a group practice – a team of three or more forensic pathologists who check each others’ work.
The discovery came after he carried out a forensic post mortem in to the death of Ian Tomlinson, the newspaper vendor who died at the G20 riots in April.
His suspension means he cannot carry out any forensic post mortems for the Home Office – effectively, all cases involving suspicious deaths – while his conduct is investigated.
The breaches were uncovered during a routine review of the practice of pathologists on the Home Office list by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), the operational arm of the pathology board that monitor the register for the Home Office.
Dr Patel, who registered with the General Medical Council under the name Mohmed Saeed Sulema Patel in 1988, is still free to conduct post mortems, although his work is restricted to examining non-suspicious deaths.
He has carried out hundreds of post mortems and given evidence to scores of inquests at St Pancras Coroner’s Court in King’s Cross over the past 10 years.
Dr Patel is understood to have told investigators he was part of the South East Group Practice, the practice that carry out forensic post mortems for the Metropolitan Police.
The group, called the Forensic Pathology Service, includes Dr Nat Carey, the pathologist who went on to carry out the second post mortem into Ian Tomlinson and came to the conclusion that he died from internal bleeding.
Investigators want to know why Dr Patel conducted the post mortem on Mr Tomlinson when it appeared he does not currently hold a police contract, another requirement of the Home Office rules.
Dr Patel hit the headlines with his findings into the death of Sally White, a 39-year-old woman found dead in the Camden Town council flat home of Hardy in January 2002. Dr Patel gave evidence to an inquest suggesting she had died of natural causes but Hardy was later convicted of her murder at the Old Bailey.
While her death was initially treated as suspicious by police – Ms White’s naked body was found locked away in a spare room with a bite mark to the thigh and a head wound – detectives said they abandoned their inquiries after it was ruled she had died of a heart attack.
Detective Inspector Alan Bostock said afterwards: “The cause of [Sally White’s] death was given as coronary heart disease which we refer to as natural causes. I get paid to investigate unexplained deaths, suspicious deaths, not deaths by natural causes. All those decisions are important decisions that are not made by me.”
Hardy, now serving a life sentence, went on to murder two more women around Christmas 2002, cutting up his victims and dumping them in bin bags in Camden’s most horrific criminal case.
Dr Patel’s contract with the Metropolitan police was not renewed when it expired in 2004.
A police spokeswoman said: “The contract went to the Forensic Pathology Service in December 2006 and he wasn’t part of that group. It was a whole change of system.”
Dean Jones, the senior pathologist manager for the NPIA who is leading the investigation into Dr Patel’s work, said it was essential that forensic pathologists worked as part of a group practice to “ensure a high quality of performance”.
He said: “Dr Patel hasn’t been contracted to any police force for several years.
“He must know that he should be a member of a group practice. There are conditions that you need to comply with and if you don’t, there are risks that you’re not having your work checked – and it doesn’t mean your work isn’t good – but that’s what the checks and balances are there for.”
Dr Patel was assigned to the Tomlinson post mortem by the City of London coroner Paul Matthews.
Yesterday (Wednesday), responding to questions about why he appointed Dr Patel, Mr Matthews said: “I am waiting for Dr Patel to comment on the facts asserted in the question [Dr Patel’s suspension] before responding, but intend to respond once he has commented.”
A spokesman for the NPIA said: “Dr Freddy Patel was suspended and removed from the Forensic Pathology list on June 2 2009 as he was no longer working as part of a ‘group practice’, an obligation placed on all registered pathologists.
“As part of our investigation we’re investigating a number of issues in relation to Dr Patel, including what forensic post mortems he conducted outside of the Metropolitan police and how many were performed whilst he wasn’t part of a group practice.”
Dr Patel qualified as a surgeon in 1974 from the University of Zambia. He did not respond to phone calls from the New Journal. Reporters called at St Pancras Mortuary but requests for an interview were not granted.
Contacted by the Guardian newspaper after Mr Tomlinson’s post mortem, Dr Patel said he had not been reprimanded over his work in the Sally White case.
He said: “As far as I know my findings still stand and I wasn’t criticised.”
The NPIA has already spoken to Dr Patel.
A decision about Dr Patel’s conduct will be made by the discipline committee of the Pathology Delivery Board, whose options range from no action at all, to giving advice or taking Dr Patel to a disciplinary tribunal with a potentialsanction to remove him from the register. |
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