CONTROVERSY over claims that notorious Kent gynaecologist Rodney Ledward faked his death is still continuing. Vivien Theobald, a former Ledward patient who insists she saw him in Hythe, has been the subject of intense media interest.

Meanwhile, the priest who conducted Ledward's funeral has said he has no doubt the 62-year-old former surgeon is dead. Kent police are to check Ledward's death certificate. This follows allegations that a doctor did not sign it.

Ledward was struck off the medical register in 1998 for carrying out brutal operations on women. He practised at the William Harvey Hospital at Ashford at the private BUPA St Saviour's Hospital at Hythe. There have also been reported sightings of Ledward in Spain and Ireland.

Mrs Theobald, 59, from St Mary's Bay, near Dymchurch, claims Ledward sexually assaulted her in the early 1990s as well as damaging her physically. She said she was waiting at the roundabout at the entrance to Hythe High Street last autumn when an open-top sports car passed her. Ledward was in the passenger seat.

"I was transfixed and a chill went down my spine. His hair was flapping in the wind. It was a bit longer and less tidy but otherwise it was the same," she said.