A DISGRACED North Yorkshire gynaecologist who was struck off after botching operations will not face any criminal charges.

Richard Neale, who worked as a consultant at Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, from 1985 to 1995, was struck off by the GMC in July 2000 after it heard how he put women through agonising pain and, in some cases, left them unable to have children.

He had been struck off the medical register in Canada in 1985 for serious incompetence involving the deaths of two patients, but had still been allowed to practise when he arrived in the UK.

In 2004, North Yorkshire Police launched an investigation into his treatment of patients in Northallerton and the Isle of Wight, including a 47-year-old North Yorkshire patient Joyce Blackbird, who died following an operation carried out by Mr Neale.

They also investigated the circumstances surrounding the death of North Yorkshire baby Daniel Carver, who died two days after he was born when Mr Neale attended as the on-call consultant at the delivery.

With the co-operation of a support group for former Neale patients, officers wrote to more than 300 women and received about 145 replies, all of which were investigated.

But now the force says that, in the light of Crown Prosecution Service advice, no further action is to be taken.

"After seeking the advice of Counsel, the CPS concluded that there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of a conviction," said a spokesman.

Reviewing lawyer in the CPS's Special Crime Division, Howard Cohen, said the service had considered whether there was evidence Mr Neale had committed any offence, including assault, health and safety offences and the offence of gross negligence manslaughter in relation to the two deaths.

Sheila Wright-Hogeland, from near Helmsley, who runs the support group for former Neale patients, said the decision not to prosecute was "very, very disheartening and disappointing."

She said a letter she had received from the CPS told her that the delay in bringing any proceedings against the doctor was a major factor in the decision not the prosecute. "But the delay has not been the patients' fault," she said. "The matter was first reported to the police seven years ago and there have been two investigations. How can they then say there's been too much of a delay?"

She said a prosecution would have meant closure for hundreds of patients in the support group.