High Court upholds suspension of doctor whose failings as expert witness were “serious and dangerous”

A consultant psychiatrist whose conduct as an expert witness in a murder trial was “outstandingly bad” has lost his High Court appeal against a decision by the General Medical Council to suspend him from practice for four months.

Mr Justice Ouseley said that Anantha Kumar’s failings as a witness for the defence in the case of Andrew Day, who stabbed his girlfriend to death, were “many, serious, and dangerous.”

Kumar, who had never given evidence at a homicide trial before, prepared a report after interviewing Day and reading his interview with police. He concluded that Day lacked the intent to commit murder and had a condition called intermittent explosive disorder.

The …