Court of appeal extends Ian Paterson’s jail term from 15 to 20 years after solicitor general argued it was unduly lenient

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Ian Paterson, the surgeon who performed unnecessary breast operations and made healthy patients believe they had cancer, has had his sentence increased to 20 years by the court of appeal.

The consultant, who worked in the West Midlands, appeared in court by videolink from Nottingham prison to hear the judges add another five years to his jail term.

The decision followed an application by the solicitor general, Robert Buckland QC, who argued that the original sentence had been unduly lenient for someone who had “gratuitously inflicted” scars and deformities on so many people.

Imposing the 20-year term, Lady Justice Hallett said: “How any doctor, let alone one who had earned an enviable reputation, could have engaged in this level of offending we will never know.



“Greed, self-aggrandisement, power – however, they do not come close to explaining how a doctor can falsely tell a patient he or she has cancer when they have not, with all that such a diagnosis entails for a patient and members of their family.



“Nor how a doctor can then insist that he or she undergo unnecessary operations, including mastectomies, with all the physical and psychological pain such operations cause.



“Patients trusted him implicitly. They could never have imagined that he would put them through the agony of a diagnosis of cancer and mutilation of their breasts when there was no justification for it.”

Hallett said both the harm caused and Paterson’s culpability were exceptionally high. The new term is longer than the average given in manslaughter cases.

Paterson, 59, from Altrincham in Greater Manchester, was sentenced to 15 years in May after a trial at Nottingham crown court.

Hallett, Mrs Justice Carr and Mr Justice Goss reviewed the sentence at a hearing in London after it was referred to the court by Buckland.

After the ruling, Buckland said: “Throughout our lives we are told and expected to trust doctors. Paterson woefully abused that trust – he deliberately preyed on people’s worst fears and then mutilated them on the operating table.



“This is a truly sickening crime and my thoughts are with the victims and their families. I hope the increased sentence will help bring some closure for them.”

Buckland argued on Thursday that Paterson’s offending was so serious and so exceptional that a jail term significantly higher than 15 years was required. It would merit a sentence of at least 20 years, he said.

The surgeon’s crimes had “caused a very high degree of physical and psychological harm” to vulnerable patients.

Ian Paterson: the 'likeable' breast surgeon who wounded his patients Read more

Nick Johnson QC, for Paterson, argued that the original trial judge, Mr Justice Baker, was extremely experienced and had considered the character evidence which showed that Paterson did a “good deal of charity work”.

“There’s a great risk of demonising him as a result of these convictions.”



Paterson had not carried out the operation solely for money, having earned only £20,000 extra over the 14-year period for which he was investigated, Johnson said.



“The judge is entitled to give what some might regard as a lenient or merciful sentence.”



Paterson, he said, was unable to associate with other prisoners because his crimes were “truly notorious”, making him a “marked man” and adding to the pressure of the sentence already imposed.



Paterson was convicted by a jury of offences of wounding with intent and unlawful wounding against 10 patients. His trial heard evidence from nine women and one man who were treated privately at Little Aston and Parkway hospitals in the West Midlands between 1997 and 2011.

Diane Green, who underwent two unnecessary mastectomies, said the increased sentence was encouraging.



“I lost everything – my home, my job, my marriage – as a result of what that man did. While no amount of jail time can repay or make up for what he did, a sentence of 15 years, which is really only seven and a half, was never going to be enough for maiming and butchering hundreds of women like me.”



Debbie Douglas, who endured an unnecessary mastectomy at Spire Parkway hospital in Solihull, said: “When he got 15 years, I was just happy to see him put away, and that he was off the streets.



“But afterwards, we thought it was just too lenient for what he had done. Today I feel some relief, but I feel like now we owe it to the other victims to get a full public inquiry.”



Emma Doughty, a specialist medical negligence lawyer from Slater and Gordon, representing more than 100 of Paterson’s former patients, said: “No sentence could ever heal the physical and emotional scars he left behind but my clients are pleased by today’s ruling.



“The knowledge that this man will be behind bars for a long time will give them some solace and I hope it helps them in moving on from this traumatic time in their lives.”

