A RESPECTED surgeon at Hereford County Hospital has admitted branding his initials on the livers of two transplant patients in what is believed to be first case of its kind in British criminal history.

Simon Bramhall, of Church Lane, Tarrington, pleaded guilty this week to assault by beating after marking 'SB' onto the organs of the anaesthetised patients during surgery.

A court heard how the 53-year-old used an argon beam coagulator to carry out the bizarre assaults at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 2013.

Last week, the transplant surgeon - who worked on the hospital's liver unit for 12 years - admitted the charges at Birmingham Crown Court.

He denied two other counts of assault occasioning bodily harm - a plea which was accepted by prosecutors.

Tony Badenoch QC, prosecuting, said the "highly unusual and complex case" was "without legal precedent in criminal law."

A judge heard how his actions - which required "some skill and concentration" - had not just been ethically wrong and an abuse of trust but had also broken the law.

Mr Badenoch added: "This has been a highly unusual and complex case, both within the expert medical testimony served by both sides and in the law.

"It's factually, so far as we are able to establish, without legal precedent in criminal law.

"The pleas of guilty now entered represent an acceptance that that which he did was not just ethnically wrong, but criminally wrong.

"They reflect the fact that Bramhall's initialing on a patient's liver was not an isolated incident but a repeated act on two occasions some skill and concentration in the presence of colleagues.

"They were carried out with a disregard for the feelings of an unconscious patient.

"It was an abuse of the trust put in him by both patients.

"His acts in marking the livers of those patients were deliberate and conscious acts on his part.

"Suffice to say for current purpose these pleas meet the broad public interest in this case.

"It will be for others to decide the extent to which they impact on his fitness to practise."

Bramhall, a liver, spleen and pancreatic consultant surgeon, was granted unconditional bail to appear for sentencing at the same court on January 12 next year.

Judge Paul Farrer QC, told him: "Your legal team need to do further work and I also take the view that there should be a pre sentence report on you so that I can sentence you on January 12."

Bramhall, who came to attention in 2010 when he transplanted a liver saved from a burning aircraft into a patient, was suspended when the branding was discovered by another surgeon.

He left the hospital in Birmingham before being employed by the Wye Valley NHS Trust at Hereford County Hospital.

In a statement, the Trust said: "The welfare and safety of patients is the Trust’s priority.

"We expect the highest standard of conduct from our consultants and have systems and processes to monitor this.

"The alleged activities took place prior to Mr Bramhall joining Wye Valley NHS Trust.

"Mr Bramhall does not carry out liver transplants at WVT."