A DOCTOR who allegedly lied about Iraqi prisoner mistreatment has been given fresh hope of clearing his name after doubts emerged about the reliability of key evidence.

Supporters of Derek Keilloh claim witness statements put before the panel that saw the Northallerton GP struck off may be unreliable.

Mr Keilloh was found guilty by a tribunal of misleading and dishonest conduct following the death of Iraqi prisoner Baha Mousa in Basra in 2003.

However, Campaigners say the evidence from Iraqi detainees is very similar to statements presented to the Al Sweady Inquiry into allegations of abuses by the British military in Iraq.

Some of this evidence was later declared as “wholly and entirely without merit or justification” by the former high court judge who led the inquiry.

Richmond MP Rishi Sunak has offered support to the campaign to clear Mr Keilloh's name.

Mr Sunak has been helping the family obtain transcripts of interviews and hearings from the Ministry of Defence and has made further requests to the General Medial Council and the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.

Mr Sunak said: “This case is not about whether British soldiers acted improperly or not over the death of Baha Mousa. The Iraqi was badly treated by British soldiers and died in custody.

“The issue is about how Mr Keilloh was treated and whether the evidence used against him, and largely accepted unquestioningly by the tribunal, can be considered 100 per cent reliable given what we now know about some of the evidence used in attempts to hold British soldiers to account and extract compensation from the Ministry of Defence.”

Mr Keilloh's mother-in-law, Judy Nicholls, who has co-ordinated the campaign to clear his name and runs the www.justice4drkeilloh.org.uk site, said: "We as a family are very grateful to Rishi for supporting us in this ongoing campaign.

"It is three years since our son-in-law, Derek, was deleted from the medical register, and 13 years since he worked so hard to revive Baha Mousa.

"In the interim he had built up an excellent reputation as a GP in Northallerton and we do not believe that his patients' and his colleagues' opinions were taken into account when the MPTS made the decision to strike him off."

Mr Keilloh was a newly qualified doctor with the Queen's Lancashire Regiment when he tried to save 26 year old Mr Mousa, who had been beaten by British troops.

The tribunal panel concluded that Mr Keilloh had been more aware of Mr Mousa's injuries than he revealed in his statements to a court martial and public inquiry.

A petition in support of the doctor has now been signed by more than 3,000 people. For details, visit you.38degrees.org.uk/p/support-derek-keilloh