A cancer surgeon lied about performing dozens of complex operations in order to land a prized £84,000-a-year job, a court heard yesterday.

Sudip Sarker, 47, from Broadstairs, is accused of exaggerating his experience in an interview for the post of consultant general surgeon.

He allegedly claimed he had performed approximately 80 laparoscopic sigmoid colectomies, of which he supposedly completed 51 independently.

Yesterday, Sarker denied fraud by false representation between May 11 and September 1, 2011.

He appeared dressed in a blue-checked shirt with a dark blue tie and spectacles at Worcester Crown Court and spoke only to enter a not guilty plea.

The court heard Sarker "knowingly exaggerated his experience" for the post at Worcester Royal Hospital and Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, Worcestershire.

He is accused of falsely claiming he had undertaken 51 keyhole surgery operations independently "with a 3% complication rate".

Recorder Robert Spencer-Bernard adjourned his trial, which is expected to last up to four weeks, to January 22 next year after a 30-minute hearing.

Speaking at a previous court hearing, prosecutor Daniel Jones said: "The Trust advertised for the role of general surgeon which said that applicants needed to be experts in keyhole surgery.

"They also needed to be able to offer expert opinion in that speciality.

"Mr Sarker claimed to have extensive experience in this field.

"His CV said that he had advanced keyhole surgery skills.

"Mr Wilson, who conducted his interview, asked him an open question about what his favourite procedure was.

"Mr Sarker responded that his favourite was keyhole surgery and he'd done 51 independent surgeries.

"Another applicant was deemed too inexperienced because he had performed less surgeries."