A disgraced surgeon accused of harming patients is unlikely to ever return from Libya to face justice, a lawyer familiar with the country’s legal system has told Sky News.
Former NHS Tayside neurosurgeon Sam Eljamel is originally from Libya and is believed to be operating there now.
Suspended from his work at a hospital in Dundee in 2013, Eljamel is accused by dozens of former patients of carrying out life-changing “botched” brain and spinal operations. The claims include removing the wrong body parts.
A public inquiry is under way and Police Scotland is examining up to 200 patient cases as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
‘Paralysed by my surgeon’
Annemarie Pymm, a former tax worker, lives in Perth with her husband Dougie. She is paralysed and can barely speak after undergoing two brain operations by Eljamel to remove cancer and requires 24/7 care.
Sitting next to his wife, Mr Pymm told Sky News: “She can’t walk. She can’t talk. She can’t do anything for herself.”
‘This is Europe’s problem’: Inside smuggling trade bringing migrants from Africa
‘This is Europe’s problem’: The migrants stuck in East Libya’s detention centres
Up to a million Palestinians could be ‘permanently relocated’ to war-torn Libya under US plans
The Pymms are part of a growing group of families who are demanding answers and accountability.
“Professor Eljamel… Do you know what he has done to my wife and 200 other people? He mutilated them,” Dougie said.
Eljamel was head of neurosurgery at NHS Tayside from 1995 to 2013. He was lauded as one of Europe’s leading brain surgeons and boasted a CV that was pages long.
When allegations of malpractice first emerged, NHS bosses allowed the surgeon to operate on a further 111 patients unsupervised despite being under clinical supervision.
Health chiefs have since admitted patients were put at unnecessary risk.
His final NHS patient: ‘I sued and won’
One of those patients was Jules Rose, who is now the lead campaigner in this scandal.
Medical notes reveal Ms Rose, who lives in Kinross, had a tear gland removed instead of a brain tumour during Eljamel’s last ever surgery on Scottish soil.
She was unaware he was under investigation at the time and has since won a successful lawsuit against the NHS.
She said: “Where were the checks and balances in all of this? Where were the systemic processes that Eljamel should have been going through?”
The former marathon runner describes Eljamel as a “butcher” who has destroyed her life.
Sky News contacted the hospital in Misrata, Libya, where Eljamel is thought to be employed. An employee confirmed he works there almost every day but declined our request to speak directly to him.
Will Eljamel ever be extradited to UK?
A formal extradition treaty exists between the UK and Libya, allowing Libyan nationals to be sent back to Britain in certain criminal circumstances.
Professor Peter Watson is a senior lawyer who represented British families in the decades-long diplomatic and legal battle with Libya over the Lockerbie bombing, the UK’s worst-ever terror attack.
All passengers and crew on board Pan Am flight 103 were killed when the plane exploded over the Scottish town in 1988.
Read more from Sky News:
Suspect in National Guard shooting charged
British man missing after falling from cruise ship
Follow our channel and never miss an update.
The subsequent investigation, involving Mr Watson, centred on discussions with authorities in Libya after various Libyan nationals were accused of the terror attack.
Sky News visited him to ask him, with his knowledge of how the system operates there, his views on the prospect of Eljamel being brought back to Scotland to face any formal charges, if any were brought forward.
Mr Watson told Sky News: “I think the challenge is probably too big. The steps that Crown Office and the police would be required to take would require the cooperation and agreement of the Libyan authorities. It is difficult to see how that would happen.”
He concluded: “Libya is a country in turmoil. Various factions are fighting to take control of various parts. You’d have to persuade the Libyan authorities that it was in the interests of their citizens and of Libya for this process to take place.”
Public inquiry gets under way
In 2021, a Scottish court ordered Dr Eljamel to pay a former patient £2.8m in compensation after a judge ruled the surgeon was entirely to blame for leaving a woman with serious disabilities.
A judge-led independent public inquiry examining what went wrong is now under way in Edinburgh.
It is examining, among other areas, failures including a lack of effective systems to pick up on recurrent mistakes by surgeons during Eljamel’s tenure in Scotland.
Earlier this week, it emerged that 40 hard copy theatre logbooks containing information on surgeries carried out by Eljamel between 1995 and 2013 had been destroyed.
They were wrecked in July this year despite a formal “Do Not Destroy” order being in place for the inquiry.
NHS Tayside has apologised and said it will fully comply with the investigations and inquiries.
