A doctor has been convicted of manslaughter over the death of a patient at a private hospital in Sudbury.

David Sellu was found guilty by an Old Bailey jury of killing James Hughes at the BMI The Churchill Clementine Hospital in Sudbury Hill, Harrow, by gross negligence.

The victim, a 66-year-old retired builder from County Armagh, Northern Ireland, underwent routine knee replacement surgery at the private hospital run by BMI Healthcare on February 5, 2010, but while recovering experienced excruciating abdominal pain that led to the discovery he had suffered an unexplained tear to his bowel.

The court previously heard Mr Sellu, a 66-year-old general surgeon with a specialism in colorectal conditions, delayed in giving Mr Hughes a vital operation and afterwards developed blood poisoning and suffered a fatal heart attack on February 14, 2010.

Sellu, of Croft Close, Hillingdon, was acquitted by the jury of perjury. It had been alleged Sellu lied during the inquest into Mr Hughes’ death.