The doctor at the centre of the “Bloodgate” rugby scandal is free to resume her career after a General Medical Council panel ruled that, despite her dishonesty, her fitness to practise was not impaired.

Wendy Chapman, 49, cut the lip of player Tom Williams with a stitch cutter to make it appear that he had a match injury and gave false evidence to a committee inquiring into the incident.

But the panel held that an “altered state of mind” caused by severe depression made her act out of character and gave her a formal warning, …