A cancer surgeon needlessly removed women’s breasts possibly to improve his earnings at trial heard on Tuesday.

Dr. Ian Patterson operated on ten patients despite knowing it was unnecessary, and repeatedly lied to his victims about their condition saying they have cancer and it must be removed, it was claimed on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Julian Christopher said the 59 year old Doctor had his own obscure motives for the deception. He said he may have inflated his workload to keep up his image of being at the top of his game or simply enjoyed the power of making people think their lives were in his hands.

Mr Christopher added saying, ” he may have wanted to earn extra money by doing extra operations and follow up consultations all of these being private  some funded by insurance, some finding the money themselves.”

Patterson who denies 20 counts of wounding with intent, is said to have carried out the needless breast operations on 9 women and a man some of whom had multiple procedures from 1997 to 2011.  The youngest alleged victim Leanne Joseph was unable to breastfeed after her milk ducts were removed when she was 25. She was told the procedure was a small price to pay for her life despite a scan showing her breasts were free of cancer, Nottingham Crown Court heard.  Patterson from Altrincham, Greater Manchester worked in the West Midlands for Heart of England NHS Trust and private Spire Healthcare. The trial continues. – metro.co.uk