A plastic surgeon who had an affair with a married woman after treating her at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford has been struck off.

Henk Giele, 40, was found guilty of serious professional misconduct after his year-long affair with the woman, who was admitted to the hospital with a flesh-eating bug.

Giele, one of the UK's top plastic surgeons, started flirting with the mother-of-three after carrying out reconstructive surgery on her shoulder.

The woman told a General Medical Council tribunal that he would kiss her during consultations and stroke her legs under hospital sheets.

Giele, who is married, denied the affair between October 2001 and October 2002.

He claimed the 39-year-old woman stalked him and turned into a "psycho" after he rejected her advances.

But she described the appearance of moles and freckles on the doctor's genitalia.

The committee heard that the pair exchanged hundreds of phone calls, often speaking for up to an hour at a time, and had sex more than a dozen times at Mr Giele's Oxford home.

Giele, who also works at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Headington, and lectures at the Queen's College, London, denied serious professional misconduct.

The committee agreed Giele had a sexual relationship with her and that his conduct was an abuse of trust.

Chairman Mary Clark-Glass said public confidence in the medical profession was the paramount interest and that neither a reprimand nor suspension would be adequate.

She said: "Such behaviour constituted a serious abuse of his position and can only bring the medical profession into disrepute.

"The panel has decided that in view of the serious nature of its findings, it is necessary to take action against Mr Giele's registration and that any sanction imposed must mark strong disapproval of his misconduct.

"The findings against Mr Giele represent a fundamental breach of the principles of good medical practice and the standards of behaviour the public expects."