A DOCTOR who set up the child psychiatry service in Dundee has been banned from practising for one year after being found guilty of serious professional misconduct.

Professor Philip Barker (74) was found to have behaved in a manner liable to bring the profession into disrepute after a hearing at the General Medical Council in London, which was told of an incident involving illegal drugs in 2000.

The hearing heard the Canadian-born former head of psychiatry at Alberta Children’s Hospital had obtained rocks of crack cocaine for two women, one of them an undercover police officer, at a Calgary hotel.

He also confessed to being a former cocaine addict.

The professor had returned to his homeland to lecture and practise after a distinguished career in Scotland, during which he established a psychiatric unit for children on the former Dundee Royal Infirmary site. Before his arrival in the 1960s children were not treated by specialists, but by psychiatrists more used to dealing with adults.

Professor Barker was charged with drug dealing by the legal authorities in Canada but the case against him was stayed following the death of his wife.

The GMC has given him 28 days to appeal its decision and will review his suspension in 12 months.