Top prosecutor slams police inaction on 'butcher' surgeon probe

23 December 2024, 07:02 | Updated: 23 December 2024, 10:42

Scotland’s police force has been slammed by the top prosecution officer for its seven year investigation into “butcher brain surgeon” Professor Sam Eljamel.

The former surgeon is accused of botching hundreds of brain and back operations while he worked at Dundee’s Ninewells hospital, leaving many people injured and disabled.

So far no charges have been brought by Police Scotland, despite the length of the investigation, and now in a letter seen by LBC, Scotland’s Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain has said the force is not progressing the investigation properly.

She’s told campaigners who are seeking justice after being left damaged by Prof Eljamel, she’s unhappy at the way Police Scotland has handled the investigation known as Operation Stringent.

In her letter she says that despite the complexities of the case “on any view this investigation has simply not progressed as it should have.”

She also says she has “been concerned for some time about the progress being made in investigating this matter" and had met with police in September 2023, to emphasise her concerns.

Campaigner Jules Rose told LBC that she hopes the letter will be a wake up call for Police Scotland.

“I would now hope that the Chief Constable would place the utmost priority on Operation Stringent and finally agree to a meeting, which I've been requesting for significant months now, but I'm still met with radio silence.," she said.

“Also the focus should not just be on Eljamel. It's much bigger than that. Police Scotland should be looking at anybody who enabled or covered up the surgeon to commit the butchery that he did.

"We feel that Police Scotland is now playing catch up on the years of inaction - to have one senior investigation officer on the case for five years is just not good enough, and I have received no explanation as to why that was the case.”

She added: “We feel as complainers that they've never believed us from the outset. As victims, we feel ignored and the investigation’s been moving like molasses.”

Prof Eljamel left hundreds of people with injuries and was ultimately suspended from NHS Tayside before fleeing to Libya.

A public inquiry has now been agreed by the Scottish Government into the scandal - but the campaigners reported the issue to the police seven years ago.

Recently they wrote to Dorothy Bain laying out their concerns about the time the police inquiry was taking. Jules Rose says she was pleasantly surprised by the Lord Advocate’s response.

"It's good that she has acknowledged the failings in this investigation. For example, officers are abstracted to other investigations. We've got no committed team on Operation Stringent. It took years for them to obtain a specialist neurosurgeon to give his independent clinical opinion, which, as we can gather, is a one size fits all for the vast range of surgeries that patients have endured.

“I've got serious concerns that Police Scotland have been and still are cutting corners, which I've expressed and I'm still waiting on a reply. But it's welcoming that the Lord Advocate recognizes the concerns of not only us, the harmed patients, but of the wider public. She says 'on any view, this investigation has simply not progressed as it should have'. We are of the opinion that this investigation is far too big for Police Scotland.”

She added: “She also said this is a unique case in Scottish legal history. In October Police Scotland also told me during a meeting that this is the biggest police investigation into a medical scandal in Police Scotland's history. This is what we have been saying and campaigning for for years.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson told LBC that the investigation was “complex and protracted” but is “being investigated by the Major Investigation Team to ensure it has the experience and specialist knowledge required.”

They also said that so far that two advice and guidance reports have been submitted to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service but that extensive enquiries remain ongoing.

The campaigners want charges to be brought so that the Foreign Office could look at extraditing Prof Eljamel back from Libya.

Jules Rose also said it was “positive” she had been invited to meet with the Lord Advocate next month. “But we're now heading into our seventh year of this investigation. It's still ongoing, and no one has been charged, and meanwhile, Eljamel is abroad, practising and operating on innocent people.”

Three MSPs who have been supporting the campaigners, Scottish Labour's Michael Marra, Scottish Conservative Liz Smith and Scottish Liberal Democrat Willie Rennie, said the Lord Advocate's letter should force Police Scotland to get its "act together."

In a joint statement they said: “This is a hugely significant intervention from the Lord Advocate.

“The Lord Advocate rightly acknowledges that victims have had to wait far too long for any progress on Operation Stringent, Police Scotland’s investigation into the actions of disgraced surgeon Sam Eljamel.

“The Lord Advocate’s apology to victims is welcome, but Police Scotland must now take action. 

“As a cross-party group of MSPs, we have written to Police Scotland raising the unacceptably lengthy delays to this investigation. Following the Lord Advocate’s intervention we have received a much delayed response.

"Victims will find very little comfort in what it sets out. What victims want, need and deserve is real action. This lack of progress cannot continue. Police Scotland must now at long last get their act together.”