A rogue surgeon who lied on his CV to bag a top £80,000-a-year job has been jailed for six years as it emerged he was once investigated for having a sky-high mortality rate.

Sudip Sarker, 48, was discovered to have a death rate which was double that of his colleagues at Worcester Royal Hospital and Alexandra Hospital.

A court heard he exaggerated his experience in order to dupe bosses and land a lucrative job as consultant surgeon with Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

Sarker had deceived a panel of experts by claiming he had performed more than 50 keyhole operations solo - when he had really only completed six.

But the scheming fraudster was suspended after NHS bosses probed the deaths of more than 10 of his patients and those suffering life-changing complications post surgery.

Detectives were called in and Sarker was charged with fraud by false representation relating to his job interview at Alexandra Hospital, in Redditch, Worcestershire.

Sarker, of Broadstairs, was found guilty following a two week trial and was jailed at Worcester Crown Court today.

During the case, it also emerged the hospital trust had paid out nearly £2,000,000 in damages to 19 of his patients who had sued the NHS.

Sentencing, Judge Robert Juckes QC said: "I have to sentence you for the lies you told in an interview.

"On the job description you knew what it required and you told highly significant lies and grossly exaggerated.

"There has been criticism of your lack of questioning, it was your exaggeration that I cannot ignore, it had consequences that were disastrous.

"The job was about £80,000 a year, a year later you were suspended, but you had continued to be paid and the total loss of the trust was £300,000.

"You were in work which puts peoples lives at risk so there is very high culpability indeed.

"The best mitigation would have been the acceptance of the deception that you told, which you have not done, but instead you have fought this at every stage.

"It is with a heavy heart that I pass a custodial sentence of six years."

Prosecutor Jacob Hallam said Sarker's actions had been an "abuse of position of power, trust and responsibility".

He added: "People were assessing his performance and dismissed him on a number of grounds.

"It is plain that the defendant's actions did have a detrimental effect and had a serious detrimental effect on all the victims.

"The 16 cases of negligence has now risen to 19.

"The 16 cases equalled to £1,970,574 but the total anticipated cost should be over £2 million because of other cases still being settled."

Martin Hicks, defending, said his client had performed "great service" to patients over the years and received positive references from previous colleagues.

The court heard an investigation by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) found Sarker's standard of surgical knowledge fell "significantly below" the levels expected.

The RCS also discovered that almost one in five of his patients overall had faced additional operations they had not consented to.

Inquests are due to take place into the deaths of four pensioners who were all treated by Sarker and died within months of each other.

The hearings for William Jones, 84, Daphne Taylor, 81, Jean Thomas, 80, and Sidney Millin, 68, will take place in the autumn.

Mr Jones, a father-of-four and grandfather-of-seven from Bewdley, Worcestershire, was diagnosed with bowel cancer but died of sepsis a week after surgery on May 30, 2012.

His son Simon Middup-Jones said at the time: "Before dad went for this surgery we had no idea of any possible concerns about Mr Sarker's working practices and we put our faith in the hospital and his expertise."

Mrs Thomas, a widow from Tanworth-in-Arden, Warwickshire, was operated on by Sarker on May 14, 2012 after being diagnosed with colon cancer.

Sarker, who graduated in medicine from Glasgow University and worked previously at two hospitals in London, ordered key-hole surgery rather than open surgery.

Two weeks later she returned to hospital after complications occurred and she was re-admitted a further three times before she died on September 15, 2012 of multiple organ failure brought on by sepsis.

Mrs Taylor, a mother-of-three from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, died after an operation on October 19, 2012.

Sarker was suspended in 2012 and dismissed from his job in July 2015 after concerns were raised about the number of his patient's who had died.

The RCS then looked at 43 and 50 cases for two of Sarker's colleagues and found he had an eight per cent 28-day mortality rate, with six of his patients in the sample dying within that period - double one of the other doctors who had a four per cent rate (two deaths).

"You were in work which puts peoples lives at risk so there is very high culpability indeed" - Judge Robert Juckes

The third doctor had a rate of 2.3 per cent (one death).

The report stated: "All in all, the reviewers considered that Mr Sarker's standard of surgical knowledge, judgment and team working was significantly below the level that should be expected from a consultant capable of independent practice."

Sarker is currently suspended from practising as a surgeon while an investigation by the General Medical Council (GMC) continues.

West Mercia Police said there had been insufficient evidence to press charges of gross negligence manslaughter.

A force spokesman said: "West Mercia Police initially commenced an investigation into the death of a patient to establish whether any criminal actions led to her death.

"A file of evidence was referred to the CPS in respect to four patients.

"The CPS deemed there was insufficient evidence to bring a prosecution for gross negligence manslaughter."

A RCS spokesperson added: "At the invitation of the Trust, the Royal College of Surgeons carried out an invited review of the practice of surgeon Mr Sudip Sarker in October 2012.

"At the end of our visit we gave immediate advice to the Trust's Medical Director to stop the surgeon from having any contact with patients, while the Trust's further investigations continued.

"We also recommended that the Trust contact the GMC and review the recent care given to each of the surgeon's patients."