Breast surgeon convicted over ‘unnecessary’ operations

A breast surgeon has been convicted in England of carrying out a series of "completely unnecessary" operations.

Ian Paterson was described during his trial in Nottingham Crown Court by one victim as being "like God".

The court heard he lied to patients and exaggerated or invented the risk of cancer to convince them to go under the knife.

The 59-year-old did so for “obscure motives” which may have included a desire to “earn extra money”, the court was told.

After a seven-week trial, Paterson was convicted by a jury on Friday of 17 counts of wounding with intent and three counts of unlawful wounding.

Judge Jeremy Baker released Paterson on conditional bail ahead of sentencing in May.

The maximum sentence for wounding with intent is life imprisonment.

Ian Paterson was described in Nottingham Crown Court by one victim as being ‘like God’