A north London gynaecologist has been suspended for 12 months - five years after carrying out inappropriate examinations on four women.

Said Arzhangi, 64, of Eastgate Court, Stanhope Road, Crouch End, has been suspended for failing to keep to conditions placed on him after a conviction for serious professional misconduct two years ago.

Arzhangi was found guilty in relation to four examinations in Somerset and Kent in 2001.

Patient A, 47, said Arzhangi squeezed her breasts together when he was supposed to be examining her groin. Patient B, 30, said Arzhangi made her jump after touching her intimately.

Patient C, 75, said Arzhangi touched her breast when he was supposed to be inspecting her groin. Patient D, 57, also claimed Arzhangi groped her breast.

Arzhangi's defence was that he employed a method of "cursory" breast examination, but a committee dismissed the technique as having "no clinical value".

Arzhangi was placed under strict conditions as a result of the misconduct verdict, but a General Medical Council panel hearing on Friday said he had failed to keep to the terms imposed.

The panel chairman, Ralph Bergmann, told Arzhangi: "You lack any insight into your deficiencies and you still consider the original finding of serious professional misconduct to be wrong."

The panel told Arzhangi he must undergo a year of retraining, despite his claims he was too ill to attend the programme and could not afford to pay for it.