Nick Leeson, the rogue trader whose losses sank Barings Bank, has had an operation in Singapore to remove a cancerous tumour from his colon, his London lawyer said yesterday.

The operation on Sunday went well and Leeson, who is serving a 6 1/2-year jail term for fraud, was recovering in hospital, his lawyer, Mr Stephen Pollard, said in a statement.

Leeson (31), whose unauthorised trades broke Britain's oldest merchant bank, had been due to undergo surgery today, but the operation took place two days early after he complained of sickness and abdominal pain.

"Mr Leeson had the tumour removed, together with part of his colon, and part of his large intestine," Mr Pollard said.

The cancer has already spread to Leeson's lymph nodes and doctors in Britain have said his chances of survival were 50-50.

Leeson's father, William, a retired plasterer, disclosed at the weekend that he too was battling cancer.

Lawyers for Leeson, who started his sentence in December 1995, are seeking to have him released early on medical and compassionate grounds so he can return to Britain.

Leeson was jailed after burying Barings under $1.4 billion of debt, chalked up by complex financial market gambles put together from his Singapore office that went horribly wrong.