The consultant entered a guilty plea to two allegations of assault by beating at Birmingham Crown Court in December 2017. Mr Bramhall was described by one of his professional colleagues as one of the outstanding surgeons of his generation. He received a 12 months community service order of 120 hours and a £10,000 fine. The Prosecution had applied for costs of over £16,000 but that figure was reduced to £1,500 to reflect Mr Bramhall’s early acknowledgement of his behaviour.

The consultant had received hundreds of written messages of support from former patients whose lives he had saved, their relatives and a number of professional colleagues. Some of his former patients were present in the packed public gallery on the day of the hearing.

The case attracted widescale media attention both nationally and internationally.