A ROGUE surgeon who lied to get a top job at Redditch hospital will have to pay £337,000 in compensation to the NHS.

Disgraced surgeon Sudip Sarker appeared at Worcester Crown Court for a for a proceeds of crime application (POCA) hearing via videolink from prison.

He was told he would be stripped of assets to recover the cost of the salary he should never have received in the first place.

The 50-year-old, serving a six year jail sentence for fraud, was ordered to pay the compensation to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, the organisation he deceived and whose patients his lies put at risk.

The trust had paid out nearly £2 million to settle the claims of patients he operated upon.

The surgeon, previously of Botany Road, Broadstairs in Kent, had denied making a false representation to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust so he could secure the £80,000 a year job at Redditch's Alexandra Hospital.

Sarker worked at the trust for 14 months until his suspension in October 2012 which led to his later dismissal.

The jury agreed that Sarker, who had a higher mortality rate in terms of the patients he operated on compared to two other Alex surgeons, exaggerated his experience in laparoscopic surgical procedures in his interview.

During the hearing prosecutor Jacob Hallam QC said Sarker benefited to the tune of £347,214 as a result of the fraud.

Sebastian Winnett, defending, argued that Sarker had taken a modest pay cut to work for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

"Did he benefit? He says not" said Mr Winnett.

He also argued that the majority of the work Sarker undertook during the period of his criminal conduct was done properly and that he should not be deprived of the entirety of his wages, only those he earned from the work he was prohibited from doing.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright said: "I should proceed, should I not, on the basis that Mr Sarker would not have had the position at all if he had not committed the fraud?"

The court heard Sarker had available assets totalling £562,875 including a £420,000 house in Queen's Gate in South Kensington, London and properties in Bemersyde Avenue, Glasgow and Botany Road, Kent.

The judge made a confiscation order of £337,214 and Sarker was given three months on his release from prison to pay or face a default prison sentence of three years and eight months.

Judge Cartwright said: "I direct that the confiscated amount be paid as compensation to the trust in question, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust."

Sarker was also ordered to pay a contribution towards costs of £5,000 which also must be paid within three months of his release from prison.

A spokesperson for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said on Friday: “We are aware of today’s judgement and welcome the courts findings in our favour.”