Female victims and their supporters today packed the High Court to demand full public inquiries into the activities of two disgraced doctors.

More than a hundred women filled Court 3 at London's Law Courts as challenges were launched against Health Secretary Alan Milburn's decisions not to allow the press and public to attend formal investigations into the misery caused by surgeon Richard Neale and Dr Clifford Ayling, a GP, to a large number of women.

Two former patients - Sheila Wright-Hogeland, from Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, and Patricia Howard, from Ashford, Kent - both waived their right to anonymity in order to bring two lead cases.

Their lawyers are arguing during a four-day hearing that Government refusals to throw the proposed hearings open to the full public gaze are both "irrational" and in breach of human rights laws.

Mr Justice Scott Baker was told the refusals contravened the patients' rights under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights to impart and receive accurate information at the inquiry.

Mrs Wright-Hogeland, 50, is trying to force a public inquiry into the Richard Neale scandal.

The disgraced gynaecologist was accused of a string of bungled operations which blighted the lives of many patients.

He was found guilty of serious professional misconduct last year for botching surgery over nearly 15 years in Britain, despite having been struck off in Canada.

Most of the incidents occurred at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, although he also worked in Leicester and at the private Portland Hospital in London.

He was barred from practising by the General Medical Council in July 2000 after 34 out of 35 allegations against him were proven.

Among his patients was Mrs Wright-Hogeland, who is unable to have children as a result of Mr Neale's treatment and will have to remain on hormone replacement therapy for the rest of her life.

Victims of the disgraced surgeon were offered priority corrective surgery by the Government after complaining that their needs were not being met.

Former Tory leader William Hague was among those who demanded a public inquiry into the "uniquely chilling" case of the disgraced gynaecologist.

He suggested the "low key" investigation into how Neale was allowed to practise in the UK for nearly 15 years after being struck off in Canada was inadequate.

Mr Hague gave MPs a horrific insight into the abuse suffered by patients at the Friarage Hospital, including the case of a woman left incontinent and crippled after being "ripped apart" in a routine operation.

Edward Faulks QC, appearing for Ms Howard, expressed the amazement and anger of patients that Dr Ayling was able to continue serious sexual assaults on women for year after year, despite complaints and concerns dating back to the mid-1980s.

Ayling, 70, who practised in Folkestone, Kent, was found guilty of 13 counts of indecent assault, involving 10 women, in December 2000 and jailed for four years. The assaults occurred during intimate examinations at his practice between 1991 and 1998.