Disgraced gynaecologist 'raped 50 other women'
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Your support makes all the difference.More than 50 women who claim they were raped or sexually assaulted by a consultant gynaecologist have joined a High Court action seeking damages against the health authority who employed him.
Rodney Ledward, the disgraced specialist who was struck off the medical register in 1998 because of a series of botched operations, is alleged to have assaulted the women on hospital wards and in out-patient clinics.
Ledward, who once styled himself the "fastest gynaecologist in the west", was later the subject of a public inquiry, which reported in 2000 that he injured scores of women in one of the biggest medical scandals of the past decade.
But the inquiry, chaired by Jean Ritchie QC, did not mention claims by women that they had been raped. The claims came to light after a firm of solicitors, Jane Loveday, began advertising for women who had been victims of Ledward's sexual assaults to report their allegations.
Ledward died in 2000, aged 62, of pancreatic cancer at his stud farm in Ireland, one of several properties he owned.
At the time of his death, a few months after the Ritchie report was published, police had begun an investigation into the allegations of sexual assault.
The alleged incidents happened at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, the Royal Victoria Hospital in Folkestone, Buckland Hospital in Dover and Deal hospital between 1980 and 1996.
Jane Loveday, the lawyer who is handling the group action, said 53 women had come forward to register by yesterday's deadline. She said the assaults, most of which involved rape, had been committed against women aged between 16 and 55.
A further 30 women who were Ledward's private patients also claimed to have been raped or sexually assaulted. Another 30 women had contacted her with similar claims but were too traumatised to join the legal action, she said.
"The women I saw initially didn't tell me much. But as I got to know them, more came out. It is in keeping with the research on rape that women disclose gradually. A lot of these women were very vulnerable, and some had experienced sexual abuse as children. They are totally credible witnesses." She added: "I think Ledward was a complete sexual psychopath. He is not the only health worker to have done it. Until a system is put in place to protect women it is going to happen again."
Asked why women in Kent had contacted a legal firm in Launceston, Cornwall, where Ms Loveday is based, she said they could have been attracted by her name. "We have a small branch office in Deal [Kent] but I get a lot of gynaecology cases.
"If women have got something very sensitive to talk about they know that a firm called Jane Loveday has a woman at the top. It is less off-putting than some names."
Stephen Walker, chief executive of the NHS Litigation Authority, said: "We find the whole thing a tad bizarre. What no one has explained is why not one of these women raised this issue either in court or at the Ritchie inquiry. It was on local radio and in the local press in Kent for years."
The group action is being brought against East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust and the former East Kent Health Authority. A hearing in the High Court is due in March to decide a timetable for the action.