A surgeon accused of fraudulently inflating claims to insurers and producing fake letters to try and prove his innocence has been found guilty of fraud.

After seven hours, a jury found Mohammed Suhaib Sait guilty of two counts of fraud and two of forgery. He was cleared of sending a malicious letter to a woman falsely claiming one of his colleagues sexually assaulted her during an operation.

The 61-year-old, who worked at Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford and Fawkham Manor Hospital in Longfield, was investigated by BMI Healthcare after they became aware he was performing multiple knee surgeries but charging insurers Axa and Aviva for more expensive procedures.

He defrauded AXA between February 2011 and April 2015 and Aviva from February 2013 to May 2015.

During the investigation, the father-of-four, of Chislehurst Road, Chislehurst, produced two letters to BMI directors Valerie Power and Peter Harris which appeared to be from the insurers and cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Ms Power and Mr Harris believed these were genuine and ended the investigation into Sait's billing procedures.

However, this didn't sit well with a fellow orthopaedic surgeon and colleague Dr Michael Thilagarajah “doggedly” pursued the matter with his bosses and asked for a robust investigation into the authenticity of the letters.

Dr Thilagarajah was told the matter had been concluded and wouldn’t be taken further. He was then the subject of a “poisoned pen letter” which was sent to a former patient of his falsely claiming he had performed a botched operation and sexually assaulted her. Sait was found not guilty relating to this.

The anonymous letter claimed to be from a nurse who was working at Fawkham Manor Hospital and witnessed the operation.

A police investigation into the matter found Sait’s DNA on the letter. Two nurses who were on duty at the time of the fictitious claim also had their DNA taken to check against the envelope the letter was sent in, but neither of their DNA profiles matched with the letter.

The court heard how when officers took Sait in for questioning and searched his house they found letters with the letterheads of Axa and Aviva insurers. Other letters, without any headings, pretending to be from employees at the insurance companies were also found.

Prosecutor Serena Gates said these false letters were shown to BMI Healthcare bosses in an attempt to stop the investigation into Sait's billing, where he was routinely charging for more expensive procedures and pocketing thousands of pounds extra as a result.

When Sait took to the stand to give evidence he claimed the money he would have gained from changing the codes was only a percent or two of his annual income.

He went on to explain how he felt “bullied, hounded and anxious" by the investigation and persistent emails from his responsible officer - someone who is in charge of consultants and their conduct – who threatened to report him to the General Medical Council (GMC).

During the trial, the court heard evidence from staff who worked with Sait and claimed he didn't like procedures which took too long and he would sometimes go to fetch the patients and bring them to the operating room to speed things up.

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Defending, David Whittaker said the consultant would only do this with patients he had met before agreeing to operate as he knew they were anxious about the procedure.

It was also revealed during the trial that Sait paid more than £12,000 back to insurance provider Bupa after an internal audit revealed his incorrect coding.

He claimed to have spoken to an employee at the insurer who said he had done nothing wrong with his coding, but Bupa wasn't able to find any record of the alleged employee’s name or credentials.

Sait will be sentenced on March 4.