A rogue surgeon from Broadstairs who lied about performing dozens of complex operations in order to land a lucrative £100,000-a-year job is facing jail after being convicted of fraud.

Sudip Sarker exaggerated his experience in order to dupe hospital bosses and landed a post as a consultant surgeon with Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

The 48-year-old claimed he had performed 80 keyhole sigmoid colectomies, of which he supposedly completed 51 independently, when in fact he had only completed six.

A court heard how another candidate, from Australia, had performed 35 laparoscopic procedures but was rejected in favour of the fraudster.

He was dismissed from his job working at Worcestershire Royal Hospital and Alexandra Hospital in July 2015 following concerns about the number of his patient's who had died.

Sarker pleaded not guilty to fraud by false representation during the job interview at Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, Worcestershire, on June 14 2011.

He told the jury he had taken a "guesstimate" at how many procedures he had carried out and denied lying in order to get the job.

But a jury found him unanimously guilty at Worcester Crown Court on Friday (2/2) following a two-week trial.

The court heard the doctor told an pane of experts he had performed 85 "laparoscopic sigmoid colectomies", with just a three per cent complication rate.

Prosecutor Jacob Hallam said: "In truth, he had performed perhaps six of these operations independently.

"His assertion was a lie, told to further his own career. And it worked. He got the job.

"There is no dispute that the defendant struggled with the job he had obtained, and he subsequently ceased to practice as a doctor in 2012.

"A review of the defendant's work was carried out by medical bodies and then finally by the police.

"The defendant was first interviewed by the police under caution on the 18th September 2015.

"He said that he did not consider himself an expert in laparoscopic surgery.

"When asked why he had applied for a job that required expertise, he suggested that having expertise was different to being an expert."

Discussing the false claims about the number of operations Sarker had performed, Mr Hallam said: "The defendant told the interviewing officers that he could not remember being asked the question.

"But he appeared to accept that he had given the figures the panel recalled, because he said 'If that's what I said, that's what I said.'

"He suggested that the panel had misunderstood him.

"There is no dispute the defendant struggled with the job he had obtained, and he subsequently ceased to practice as a doctor" - prosecutor Jacob Hallam

"He said that he had researched his logbooks prior to the job interview and that the figures he provided to the panel that were a 'guess-estimate' based on that research.

"The defendant deferred blame to the panel who interviewed him for the consultant post, whom he said should have known it was his first post as a consultant and, as such, he could not have had a great deal of experience.

"Having got the job, he struggled, and when he was put under scrutiny about what he'd said, he struggled to give an answer that was either consistent or compelling.

"The reason for that was because he'd said something that wasn't true and he was being called to account for it."

A spokesman for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Mr Sarker worked at the Trust for 14 months, until his suspension in October 2012, which led to his later dismissal.

"We have co-operated fully with West Mercia Police throughout their investigation and welcome today's verdict."

Sarker, who graduated in medicine from Glasgow University and worked previously at two hospitals in London, will be sentenced on Monday.