A doctor who practised in Oxfordshire despite being convicted of rape and sex offences is now facing extradition to Holland.

The Oxford Mail revealed this week that Dr Peter De Bruijn, 50, had been working as a GP in Oxford, Witney, Clifton Hampden and Didcot because of a legal loophole.

But now Dutch prosecutors want him sent back to serve a 20-month jail term handed down by a court in his absence in 1993.

The sentence had been put on hold while de Bruijn appealed to the Court of Appeal in The Hague and the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Both legal moves failed and the prosecutor's office in The Hague is preparing extradition papers. Spokesman Leenderd Delange said: "At this moment we have an active policy to get him to Holland, where he will be punished.

"We are looking at how we can get him here.

"His appeal was rejected by the Court of Human Rights and by the Appeal Court in Amsterdam, which is the last possibility here in Holland.

"His sentence is 20 months, although he could get parole after 15."

If the case proceeds beyond that stage it will fall to Home Secretary Jack Straw, who has a house at Minster Lovell, to listen to representations before making a decision.

Extradition proceedings can take a year or longer if contested. The Oxford Mail revealed that the General Medical Council had no choice but to register De Bruijn to practise in the UK even though he had been suspended for a year in Holland.

European law meant no checks were made on him as an EU citizen. NHS watchdogs have demanded urgent action.

De Bruijn, of Corn Street, Witney, worked for the Deer Park Medical Centre in Edington Square, Witney, and the Nuffield Health Centre in Welch Way, Witney, until March last year.

Story date: Saturday 18 March

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