THE campaign to get Richard Neale struck off was launched two years before he was suspended by the GMC. But that the campaign was founded at all owes much to The Northern Echo, the Advertiser's sister paper, says campaign group chairman Sheila Wright-Hogeland.

"If this man is stopped, The Northern Echo has been to a very great extent responsible for stopping him," she said.

Once The Northern Echo published a contact telephone number for the group the numbers of women alleging that they had been injured by Mr Neale rose dramatically. It sparked a well-organised campaign, which included the lobbying of MPs and sustained pressure on the GMC.

Mrs Wright-Hogeland and another former patient, Carole Millward, were joined by veteran health campaigner Graham Maloney from Yarm.

A letter-writing campaign to more than 300 MPs led to the Commons Health Select Committee holding a special meeting in Northallerton to speak to the women.

Mrs Wright-Hogeland used her experience as a former journalist to interview every woman in the group and sent a transcript of their complaint to the GMC.

"It has been two years' full-time work, around the clock. The telephone has never stopped ringing," she said.