Jailed surgeon due for release before inquests end

Ian Paterson is set to be released from prison in May 2027 - before the conclusion of the inquests into 64 of his patients' deaths

Jailed surgeon Ian Paterson is due to be released from prison before the inquests into some of his patients' deaths have concluded.

Inquests are taking place into the deaths of 64 of Paterson's former patients, while it is understood that more could be opened.

The coroner to the inquests said on Wednesday that the hearings would not finish until the end of 2027.

Paterson was jailed in 2017 after being convicted of wounding patients by way of botched and unnecessary operations, and given a 20-year prison sentence.

However, he is set to be released in May 2027 on licence, before the conclusion of the inquests, as he will automatically be released upon serving 50% of his sentence.

Paterson was employed by Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust and practised privately at Spire Parkway and Spire Little Aston, with most of his patients from Birmingham, Staffordshire, and Warwickshire.

It had previously been anticipated that the inquests could conclude in late 2026, but the coroner, Judge Richard Foster, said that the first module of the hearings "had taken longer than we thought".

Speaking at Birmingham Coroners' Court on Wednesday, Mr Foster discussed methods of trying to speed up the proceedings, which included using more written instead of spoken evidence at the inquests.

The coroner has already heard 22 of the women's inquests, but there at least 42 still to be heard.

Some of the women who were treated by Ian Paterson and whose deaths are now being examined at inquest

The news has sparked fears from the families of his former patients about the repercussions of Paterson being released before the conclusion of the inquests.

Marie Pinfield, a child protection officer at West Midlands Police, died two weeks after her 50th birthday, on 21 October 2008.

Her sister, Shirley Moroney, told the BBC: "Ian Paterson will be out of prison and what will that mean for the coroner's process?

"Will he still be compelled to take part or will there be unfinished business? Will the coroner have to carry on without him? I don't know.

"It makes you quite sad that we're going through all of this and potentially he could just walk away from it."

While Paterson will be compelled to keep giving evidence, Ms Moroney said: "My trust in what that man is capable of is not there - I don't think he's a particularly honest person.

"The whole thought of him being out of prison stresses you out - when they give a sentence of 20 years, you hope that they mean it, but in the society we live in the expectation is they only have to do half.

"We expect people to be sorry for their crime, but if you ever listen to anything he says in court, he's not sorry at all. You can't trust anything that he says."

Shirley Moroney said there was no closure for her without finding out whether her sister's death was unnatural or not

Speaking about the wait until the end of 2027 for the conclusion of the inquests, Ms Moroney said: "It feels [like] torture to know we have to get to 2027 before we'll know what's happened to our loved ones, whether they died an unnatural death or not.

"Marie died in 2008. At some point we've got to get on with our lives.

"There's no closure. It's all still up in the air and until we know those things we're not going to completely settle."

Marie Pinfield (left), pictured with her sister Shirley Moroney, died in 2008

Dan Hudson, whose mother Gillian was a patient of Paterson and died in 2022, said it was "absolutely disgusting" that the former surgeon could be released before the conclusion of the inquests.

"There needs to be a system in place," he said. "How are we going to stop him getting out of prison and disappearing?

"There's nothing to stop him. I can't see why that wouldn't happen. Maybe the health secretary needs to step in."

He concluded: "It can't be right. Something has gone very, very wrong."