A FORMER Blackpool surgeon has gone on trial at the Old Bailey, charged with two counts of manslaughter.

Steven Walker, 47, a consultant surgeon, denies causing the deaths of Jean Robinson, 66 and Dorothy McPhee, 71, in 1995, through gross negligence.

He is also accused of theft and perverting the course of justice by stealing a register from the theatre at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, knowing it was needed for investigations by the NHS Trust, the coroner, the General Medical Council and the police.

Walker displayed clinical misjudgment, lacked sufficient surgical skills, ignored the opinion of a far more experienced colleague and was negligent, prosecutor Rebecca Poulet QC, told the court.

Miss Poulet told the court Walker had carried out a colonoscopy on Mrs Robinson despite the fact that a colleague, who performed hundreds of colonoscopies each year, had felt that the risk of perforating the bowel was too great.

Walker had, the court heard, performed only seven colonoscopies before, of which only one was successful.

During surgery, the patient's bowel was punctured. Mrs Walker needed a further operation s her bowel was leaking where a benign polyp had been removed. Walker should, the prosecution said, have carried out the quickest possible procedure because of her weak condition, but Walker instead carried out five hours of major surgery, removing most of the bowel.

She suffered major organ failure the next day and died when her family agreed to her life support systems being switched off.

Miss Poulet also told the court Walker had lied to the family of Mrs McPhee, telling them the liver operation had 'gone well' when, in fact, she had lost 18 litres of blood and died two hours later.

Walker, who now lives in Camberley, Surrey, was admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons in 1983 and took his first job as a consultant at Blackpool Victoria Hospital in 1995.

Miss Poulet said he was persuaded to take leave from the hospital at the end of 1998 and suspended in early 1999, which led to disciplinary proceedings at the GMC.

The case, which is expected to last several weeks, continues.