A SURGEON who lied about his skills in an interview so he could get a job at Redditch's Alexandra Hospital has been found guilty of fraud.

Sudip Sarker showed no emotion as the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict at Worcester Crown Court earlier today.

Judge Robert Juckes QC lifted a reporting restriction which had been in place throughout the two week trial.

The 48-year-old had denied making a false representation to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust so he could secure a job at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch.

But the jury agreed with the prosecution case that Sarker had exaggerated his experience in laparoscopic surgical procedures by falsely claiming that he had completed approximately 80 laparoscopic sigmoid colectomies of which he had performed 51 independently with a 3 per cent complication rate.

Sarker, who was of previous good character, gave evidence from the witness box, denying that he had lied during an interview for a job on June 14, 2011.

He said he could not remember giving the figures 85 and 51 for the procedures he had carried out but said he would have been referring to colectomies generally, not the more skilled laparoscopic procedures, a procedure he had performed just six times independently.

One of the witnesses was surgeon Nicholas Purser who said the trust had wanted to develop the use of more specialised laparoscopic procedures, smaller entries into the abdomen which avoid larger incisions, at both Worcestershire Royal Hospital and the Alex Hospital.

Two surgeons were also retiring at the Alex, leaving two posts to fill with the trust advertising for candidates with expertise in laparoscopic colorectal surgery.

Another post would be based at Worcester.

Mr Purser said when he met Sarker part of his role was to ‘sell my hospital to him’ and had also met him informally to discuss the position and vision for the trust.

The court heard how another applicant who had come from Australia and had performed 35 laparoscopic procedures was rejected in favour of Sarker.

The prosecution case, put by Jacob Hallam, was that Sarker had used specific figures (85 and 51) if they were merely estimates.

The court also heard that Sarker’s logbook had not always been kept contemporaneously and had in some cases been filled in retrospectively.

Sarker will be sentenced on Monday.