A surgeon under investigation by the UK General Medical Council over allegations that he carried out more than 1000 unnecessary or inappropriate breast cancer operations also faces a possible police inquiry.

Ian Stuart Paterson is accused of performing unnecessary lumpectomies on up to 450 women without first carrying out a biopsy and of doing “cleavage sparing” mastectomies on up to 700 women that risked leaving cancerous tissue behind. He was suspended from practice last month by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, pending a full hearing into the charges next summer.

Paterson worked at NHS and …