Surgeon who tried to kill colleague struck off

A plastic surgeon who was jailed for life after attempting to murder a colleague has been struck off the medical register.

Jonathan Peter Brooks broke into Graeme Perks's home in Halam, Nottinghamshire, in the early hours of 14 January 2021, wearing camouflage gear and armed with a crowbar, cans of petrol, matches and a knife, which was used to stab him.

A trial in Loughborough last year heard Brooks wanted the victim "out of the way" because he was a witness against him in disciplinary proceedings.

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) panel decided on Tuesday that Brooks's fitness to practise is impaired and that he should be removed from the register.

A report detailing the decision, shared with the BBC, states Brooks did not attend the hearing nor provide a witness statement or any written representations.

He was also not represented at the tribunal.

Brooks, who qualified in 1988, was convicted of two counts of attempted murder, one of attempted arson with intent to endanger life and one count of possession of a bladed article in April 2025.

He was given a minimum term of 22 years in June 2025.

Brooks was "voluntarily absent" from his trial because he was on hunger strike.

He also sacked his lawyers before his trial and was unrepresented in the case.

During the trial, the court was told Brooks, who specialised in burns and plastics at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust, anticipated losing his job and house following disciplinary action at work in 2021.

The trust said Brooks was first suspended in 2014, but his contract was terminated in January 2021, and, during that time, there were some periods when the suspension was removed but Brooks was not on active duty as a doctor.

Addressing Brooks during the sentencing hearing, Judge Edward Pepperall said: "You were fixated on your employment difficulties. Whatever the rights and wrongs of those difficulties, you blamed Graeme Perks."

He said Brooks's "simmering sense of grievance" towards Perks developed and he subsequently went out prepared for a "murderous expedition".

The court heard Brooks cycled in the snow to Perks's home before smashing conservatory doors and dousing the ground floor of the house with petrol, intending to set it on fire.

Perks - a consultant plastic surgeon who had recently retired - was woken up by the break-in and initially mistook the defendant for his son Henry, before Brooks stabbed him in the abdomen.

The court heard his injuries were "of the most serious type", and included a bleeding liver, injuries to the pancreas and bowel, and an "extremely life-threatening injury" to the back of the abdomen.

The victim, who was 65 at the time, had a "95% chance of dying" and only survived because of "quick action and amazing surgical skill", the trial heard.

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