A DOCTOR who was locked up for fleecing the NHS out of more than £650,000 has been barred from returning to the profession.

Roland Hankin, 56, appeared at the General Medical Council to beg for reinstatement, claiming he spent all the cash on improving medical services for the people of Dorset.

Hankin was jailed for three years and nine months in 2001 for conning the NHS out of £676,000 with five years'-worth of forged prescriptions and bogus drug and equipment invoices.

Appearing at a professional conduct committee of the GMC in central London he said: "A lot of people ask me, 'Where did all the money go?'

"The money went on my surgeries. Although they were modest surgeries, they were all well-equipped.

"I had very little help from the health authority when we moved into a large Georgian building. The only reason I was able to purchase it was because it was in such a state of disrepair.'

The doctor, who qualified in Dundee in 1972, said he was entirely focused on patient care.

"When people say to me, 'We can't trust you any more,' I say, 'Yes, you can'," he added.

"I have a track record of always being available for my clients. Lots of practitioners these days only treat this as a nine-to-five job.

"I have a different perspective to my colleagues, and my commitment to practising is total.

"If a patient calls me up in the middle of the night, I will bloody well go out and see them at their home. I am not a paperwork person."

Hankin, who practised in the villages of Cheselbourne, and Crossways, was erased from the register in January 2001 when he forgot to pay his annual fee.

Disciplinary proceedings against him were halted soon afterwards.

Selma Ramasamy, for the GMC, asked that the ban stay in place to maintain the good reputation of the profession.

The disgraced doctor had admitted 35 counts of false accounting and 14 counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception at Dorchester Crown Court.

Judge John Beashel took more than 1,000 other offences into consideration when he jailed Hankin in 2001.

The doctor had received a 12-month conditional discharge in March 4, 1999, at Sherborne magistrates court after admitting giving a drug addict a wad of blank prescriptions.

Committee chairman John Shaw said: "The committee is concerned about the serious nature of your conviction, namely defrauding the NHS of colossal sums of money repeatedly over a prolonged period of time, thus abusing your position as a doctor.

"Although you have told the committee today that what you did was wrong, they are not convinced that you fully understand the seriousness of your actions that led to your imprisonment. They also consider that you have presented very little evidence today of the steps you have been taking since your release from prison to develop a career plan and keep you medical knowledge up to date.

"Having taken all of the above matters into account, the committee have determined that, due to the serious nature of the repeated dishonesty which led to your imprisonment, it would not be in the public interest to direct the registrar to restore your name to the register. They have therefore rejected your application."

Hankin is barred from making a second application for restoration within the next two years.