A GP has been struck off after giving a patient a fatal dose of morphine more than four times the standard amount. Terminal lung cancer victim Aubrey Bennett, 72, died two hours after Dr Donald Langridge, of Radley Road, Abingdon, injected him with 45mg of the painkiller.

A General Medical Council committee heard yesterday that the standard dose of morphine for pain relief was 10mg.

Dr Langridge, 62, worked as a locum around the UK after retiring, in 1998, from his Didcot practice, which he had run for 20 years.

He was working for Healthcall, in Leicester, when he was called to see Mr Bennett, who was having difficulty breathing during the night.

Although he was not in pain, Mr Bennett had depression caused by his condition and the GP gave him morphine to ease his anxiety and help him breathe. Dr Langridge said: "I accept that, in my zeal to help Mr Bennett, I administered a dose of morphine that was too great.

"I was disappointed but not really surprised that he died. I regret what I have done -- I was over-anxious to treat him and I gave him too much.

Because of the severity of his illness, I did not think a lower dose would help, but, in retrospect, I would have used a lower dose."

The GMC hearing was also told Dr Langridge ignored restrictions placed on him by the GMC after Mr Bennett's death in May 2000.

Although he was allowed to carry on practising, he was not allowed to prescribe drugs, or work as a locum for "single-handed" family doctors.

He was also ordered to inform future employers about his situation.

But when he was workingJericho Health Centre, in Walton Street, Oxford, it was only when he could not confirm his registration number that staff discovered he was under investigation.

Doctors at a surgery in Warrington, Cheshire, where Dr Langridge was also working, spotted his name on the GMC website blacklist.

When confronted, he said the restrictions were "a load of administrative nonsense".

Despite pleas from Dr Langridge, who now works in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, that his mistake would not be repeated and his current patients were not at risk, the committee found him guilty of serious misconduct. He has been struck off the medical register and will no longer be able to practise as a doctor. Committee chairman Prof Kenneth Hobbs said: "You have failed not only in your duty of care to Mr Bennett and his wife, but also in your subsequent actions by flagrantly disregarding the conditions imposed on you.

"You have failed to demonstrate your appreciation of the seriousness of your actions. This is truly unacceptable behaviour for a doctor."