An Irish medical consultant who was jailed for fraud is set to face a fitness to practice hearing in the UK next week.Dr Anthony McGrath was jailed for eight years after being found guilty by a jury in England of an insurance scam involving a faked break in and a series of fraudulent mortgages in 2019. He is expected to represent himself in front of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing next week.A spokesperson for the UK independent medical regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC), confirmed that “McGrath has had interim restrictions placed on his registration since June 2018” and that his case would be heard by the MPTS.“Where a doctor receives a custodial sentence following a criminal conviction, the case is automatically referred to the tribunal service,” the GMC said.In line with procedures, the tribunal will determine whether it is true McGrath was convicted of four counts of fraud and perverting the course of public justice, and sentenced to imprisonment for eight years.From Co Meath, McGrath graduated in 1996 from the National University of Ireland. He received his general practitioner’s license in the UK in 2006.The medical consultant, and his then-wife Anne-Louise, now working under her maiden name, were charged with a series of frauds. His wife was cleared of all charges.The case was featured on the TV show 24 Hours in Police Custody. The episode, The Detective and the Surgeon, detailed the full incident.Fraudulent applications for three mortgages worth more than £1 million on two properties, including their seven-bedroomed detached home in Clarence Road, St Albans, were backed by forged and false documents, as McGrath attempted to keep up with significant financial expenses.As debts racked up, the court heard, McGrath made a false report to police that the home he was renting on a country estate – the 18th century Garden Bothy, once of Inspector Morse fame – had been burgled and valuable antiques stolen.He claimed that among the stolen items were expensive antiques, Ming vases, oriental rugs, jewellery, art, and even a 19th-century Rococo red marble fireplace worth £30,000. Many of the supposedly stolen goods were later found in McGrath’s parents’ home in Ireland.Jailing McGrath, the judge told him: “Your lies appear to know no bounds.”“Through your talents, you rose to be a successful orthopaedic surgeon and fell, through greed and arrogance, to where you sit today.”Before his sentence was passed, the court heard McGrath would never be able to practise again. However, he currently has a license to practice in the UK, under several strict conditions, issued in March following an successful application pending the full hearing next week. A report by Roll On Friday, a UK legal media outlet, detailed how McGrath was assisted in the application by a former barrister, Henry Hendron, who was jailed for 14 months in 2023 for the possession of crystal meth he had bought from clients. He was later disbarred.The pair are reported to have befriended each other while in prison.An orthopaedic surgeon, McGrath could face sanctions including erasure from the medical record should the tribunal find the allegations factual and having impaired his ability to be a medical practitioner. The hearing is expected to take up to a week with McGrath representing himself.The possible sanctions are a warning, voluntary restrictions called “undertakings”, mandatory conditions imposed on the practitioner’s licence, suspension or, in the “most serious of cases”, erasure from register.McGrath could not be contacted for comment.
Irish doctor faces possible removal from register in UK fitness to practice hearing
Dr Anthony McGrath was jailed for eight years over an insurance scam in 2019








