A Home Office pathologist was told today that he will face disciplinary charges into his autopsy of the first victim of the Camden Ripper.

Dr Freddy Patel, 63, was said to have ruled out murder by suffocation in the case of serial killer Anthony Hardy’s victim, the prostitute Sally White, 38, who he found had died of a heart attack in 2002.

Ms White was the first victim of serial killer Hardy, 59, who was jailed for life in 2003 for the brutal murder of three women.

He chopped up the bodies of his other victims Elizabeth Valad, 29, and Brigette MacClennan, 34, and dumped them in bin bags.

Patel’s lawyer Adrian Hopkins QC has argued all the charges in relation to Ms White should be thrown out and the pathologist should have been told he was under investigation earlier.

But panel chairman Vickie Isaac said the case should proceed even though she admitted the passage of time and loss of evidence may have caused the doctor ‘some prejudice.’

Ms White’s naked body was discovered by police in Hardy’s flat. He had covered the blood-stained walls with Celtic crosses and cruciform.

Patel had discovered that the prostitute was suffering from coronary heart disease, which he decided might have led her to suffer a heart attack during consensual sex.

He concluded that bruising to her nose and a split to the liver discovered during the examination could have been caused by resuscitation attempts.

Patel undermined the chances of successful prosecution against the police this year when he found G20 protester Ian Tomlinson had died of natural causes.

He is also accused of incorrectly claiming to be a Home Office pathologist between 1988 and 2009 on his CV, despite the fact he did not meet Home Office requirements from September 2006.

He was suspended for three months in September this year after a panel found the had carried out three ‘irresponsible’ autopsies, two of which amounted to misconduct.

The hearing continues.