Cure for cancer may be delayed by years after callous thieves stole top researcher's laptop



A top surgeon who has dedicated his career to discovering a cure for skin cancer has lost years of critical research after callous thieves stole his laptop.

Tom Chapman, 35, has spent more than a decade studying how skin cancer manifests and spreads - and believes he was on the verge of a vital breakthrough.

His work was held on a laptop which was stolen when his car was nicked.

Gone: Bristol Hospital registrar Tom Chapman makes an appeal for the return of his laptop containing potentially vital data

He has now made a desperate appeal for the crooks to return his computer - or risk setting back a possible cure for cancer by years.

Mr Chapman said: 'It was all coming together and it's just caught me at the worst time. I have backed up bits, but not all of it.

'The laptop was four years old, the speakers don't work and there's a crack in the screen. It is probably worth about £5, but there's a lot of research information on there.

'The car does not matter, it was a blue 10-year-old Volvo estate, and I can replace the other things, like the iPod, but if I don't get this data back it could set me back years.

'No matter how many people you have working on a project like this, it's something which just can't be replicated overnight.'



Mr Chapman, a specialist registrar in plastic surgery at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, had been researching growth factors in the spread of melanoma, commonly known as skin cancer.

His research looks at why the cancer, which starts off on the outside of the skin, spreads further into the body and eventually into organs.

He hopes that by discovering why this happens, doctors will be able to stop it and ultimately prevent skin cancer becoming terminal.

But years of hard work were lost when callous crooks broke into the hospital accommodation where he was staying on Tuesday.

Cancer crime: The thieves broke into accomodation at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, where Tom Chapman's car was stolen

The crooks stole Mr Chapman's Volvo estate, iPod, and, most importantly, the black and silver Compaq laptop his research was stored on.

Much of the information came from looking at skin cancer cells from patients, but Mr Chapman said no patients' personal data was stored on the computer.

He has now made a public appeal for the safe return of his laptop - which was stored in a leather brown briefcase - in the hope of recovering the lost research.

'I just hope that somebody recognises that it does not have any intrinsic value,' the doctor said.

'But the information is worth so much to me and potentially to thousands of people who suffer with skin cancer.

'It's not going to do anybody any good by being thrown away or wiped.'



A spokesman for Frenchay Hospital appealed for the safe return of the computer - adding the research was potentially very important to people suffering from the disease.

'The value of the computer is very small but the research contained on it is worth a lot to Tom and, potentially, to people suffering from skin cancer,' he said.

'North Bristol NHS Trust is taking this extremely seriously and has significantly stepped up security patrols in the area.

'The Trust security team is working alongside police officers in their investigations and we have asked staff living in hospital accommodation at Frenchay Hospital to be vigilant at all times.'

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said it was investigating but no arrests had been made and the car, registration number V245 MOH, had not been found.