A GP who had a 'sordid and despicable' affair with an 'exceptionally vulnerable' patient has been struck off by a High Court judge.

Dr Robert Stone, 62, who worked at Hellesdon Medical Practice, in Norwich, carried on a two-and-a-half year sexual relationship with the woman.

The married doctor admitted having had sexual trysts with her 'on numerous occasions' in a consulting room at the practice.

Although he knew she was depressed and potentially suicidal, he sent her 'sexual and personal' texts.

And he even invited her to his home for sex on one occasion, said Mr Justice Robert Jay.

Despite all that, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal decided not to strike him off last year, instead suspending him for 12 months.

But the judge ruled today (Friday, October 13) that he didn't taken enough account of patient safety and the 'only appropriate sanction' was a striking off order.

The court heard Dr Stone suffered from a 'health condition' that made him 'less able to resist acting in this way'.

He accepted that the affair was 'sordid and despicable' and his behaviour 'massively wrong, hurtful and destructive'.

The patient was said to have 'initiated' the relationship and Dr Stone had 'referred himself' to the General Medical Council (GMC).

The tribunal decided to suspend him in August last year after reading glowing testimonials from his friends, family and colleagues.

The panel said he had shown 'genuine and profound remorse and shame' and that striking him off would be 'disproportionate'.

But the GMC challenged the tribunal's decision, insisting that Dr Stone had to be removed from the register.

Mr Justice Jay said the tribunal had given too much weight to the GP's personal mitigation.

He said: 'This was not a momentary lapse of judgment or a 'one off'.

'He had plenty of opportunity to reflect on the wisdom of his actions before this relationship began and could have taken steps to prevent it happening.'

Dr Stone had also been 'dishonest' when he wrote letters regarding the patient to a letting agency and in relation to a claim for benefits. He penned the letters without revealing that he was in a sexual relationship with her.

The tribunal's decision not to strike him off also 'failed adequately to protect the public'.

The judge said Dr Stone was 'clearly a decent man who has learned from his errors.'

There was also 'a public interest in permitting a competent doctor to continue in practice in a profession which is losing too many experienced GPs.'

But he concluded: 'This case falls into the somewhat rare category of case where I am able safely to conclude that the doctor must be erased.

'Given the gravity, duration and extent of the doctor's misconduct, and giving appropriate weight to the available mitigation...drives me to conclude that erasure is the only appropriate sanction.'