A GENERAL Medical Council (GMC) hearing into allegations that a North-East surgeon threatened junior staff has been adjourned.

Dr Lukas Van Vuuren, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, appeared before a preliminary hearing of the council in Manchester yesterday.

The GMC will decide whether he has a case to answer and could then proceed to a full professional conduct hearing.

The council has the power to strike doctors off the medical register indefinitely.

The preliminary hearing, which was adjourned after legal submissions, is due to resume in Manchester on July 6.