THE Legal Services Ombudsman has decided to take no further action in a two-year battle over complaints made against the barrister who defended disgraced surgeon Richard Neale.

But the ombudsman, Anne Abraham, criticised the Bar Council for failing to properly inform the patients group complainants why they rejected the original grievance.

Ms Abraham also left the door open to possible further action by inviting comments from the patient group's advisor, Graham Maloney.

Victims of the Northallerton surgeon originally objected to what they saw as unnecessarily aggressive question- ing by barrister Malcolm Fortune.

They also objected to his allegedly unauthorised use of group leader Sheila Wright-Hogeland's diary extracts during a General Medical Council hearing which led to Mr Neale being struck off in July 2000.

But now, following a second investigation on behalf of the patient group after the Bar Council's response to the original complaint was deemed to be inadequate, Ms Abraham has decided that the Bar Council's decision to take no further action "was not unreasonable".

But the ombudsman said she was "critical" of the Bar Council in that they did not send the patient group the full five-page explanation she had received.

The Bar Council argued that Mr Fortune was merely defending his client and that Mrs Wright-Hogeland had said in her cross-examination that she would wish to disclose "anything of relevance whatsoever".

Mr Maloney, advisor to the 250-strong group of Mr Neale's former patients, said: "It seems the ombudsman has no teeth and no powers. It is very disappointing."