JUDGE Patrick McCartan described the fraud as “a clever scheme of deceit”.

A consultant surgeon who defrauded almost €750,000 from insurance companies through a false breast cancer claim has been jailed for four years by Judge Patrick McCartan.

The jury in the €700,000 breast cancer insurance fraud trial has been told by the prosecuting counsel that the evidence could lead to only one conclusion: "This was a clever, elaborate and dishonest fraud."

A consultant surgeon charged with a €700,000 breast cancer insurance fraud said he made "a hard decision" when he chose to perform a lumpectomy on his wife while she lay conscious on an examination table in his clinic.