Plastic surgeon guilty of trying to kill colleague

A plastic surgeon who stabbed a colleague whom he "hated" after breaking into his house has been convicted of attempted murder.

Jonathan Peter Brooks, 61, was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder, one of attempted arson with intent to endanger life and one count of possession of a bladed article.

A trial at a court in Loughborough was told Brooks wanted Mr Perks, who was a witness in disciplinary hearings against him, "out of the way".

Brooks was convicted more than four years after the stabbing, in Halam, Nottinghamshire, in the early hours of 14 January 2021.

It can now be reported that Brooks was "voluntarily absent" from the trial, because he was on hunger strike.

The court heard Brooks got on his bike armed with a crowbar, cans of petrol, matches and a knife.

Mr Perks - who had recently retired - was woken by the defendant breaking in through the conservatory and was stabbed after he initially mistook the defendant for his son Henry.

A surgeon who treated Mr Perks said he had "a 95% chance of dying" when he arrived at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham for treatment.

Mr Perks lived "because of quick action and amazing surgical skill", the court heard.