Freed GP back in jail

Clifford Ayling was given a four year sentence for molesting 10 patients

A disgraced former GP has been sent back to prison less than a month after being released.

Clifford Ayling was convicted in December 2000 of 13 counts of indecent assault against 10 patients.

He was freed on licence in August, but has been sent back to jail after breaching parole conditions.

It is understood he had begun referring to himself as "Doctor" again - which he was not allowed to do.

Ayling had worked in Kent since the late 1960s before being struck off the medical register by the General Medical Council in June 2001.

He served as a GP in the Cheriton area of Folkestone and also at hospitals across east Kent, including the gynaecological unit at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.

He was arrested in 1998 after complaints about his style of care and jailed two years later at Maidstone Crown Court.

The former GP was freed last month after serving less than three years of a four-year sentence.

The BBC was told on Tuesday by Sarah Harman, the solicitor representing Ayling's victims, that he had reverted to calling himself Doctor, thus breaching his parole conditions.

It is understood he is being held in London's Brixton Prison.