Bogus psychiatrist Zholia Alemi may have sanctioned the illegal detention of hundreds of patients, says a former Cumbrian NHS boss.

As the General Medical Council (GMC) continued its investigation of the fraudster, who forged the will of a Cumbrian widow in a bid to inherit her £1.3m estate, fresh details have emerged about her 22-year career.

For three years, Alemi sat on the Mental Health Tribunal of Scotland.

In that role, she would have sat as a medical expert on three-member panels whose job is been to adjudicate on whether patients undergoing compulsory psychiatric treatment should be freed.

GMC records show Alemi, 56,was suspended from practice in 2017 for lying in official paperwork.

Without any formal approval, she also worked as a “Section 12 approved” clinician, which meant she could sanction the detention of people under the Mental Health Act.

The News & Star has been shown an on-line google entry suggesting Alemi remained a member of the Mental Health Tribunal of Scotland in May of this year - when she was already formally suspended. The associated web page has been deleted.

She sat on the panel between 2009 and 2013. The Tribunal refused to comment but insisted she did not join panels beyond 2013.

Alan Donkersley, who was chief executive of Cumbria Ambulance Service NHS Trust until 2004, said he has been shocked by the regulatory failures thrown up by the Alemi case.

“It’s diabolical that an absolute criminal has been allowed to do what she has done,” said Mr Donkersley.

“It’s been shown she was unqualified, and had no legal authority to do what she did as a psychiatrist’. To section a patient, they have to show the person poses a danger to themselves or other people.

“If that is the case, the person is subject to what they call a deprivation of liberty.

“That’s what makes what Alemi did so gross. Mental health tribunals are held in the hospital where the patient is being kept and they are like a court. They are not reported on. It’s a closed process.

“The tribunal service should do a full review of the legality of every case this woman was involved in. We do not know how many patients were illegally sectioned under the Mental Health Act by Alemi.

“The authorities should now investigate every case she worked on. For any person detained in a hospital for six months the consequences could be catastrophic. They may have lost their job, or had to sell their house, as a result. There could be potentially hundreds of people affected by her decisions.

“There is likely to be litigation. The Mental Health Tribunal of Scotland needs to be honest and transparent.”

Alemi worked across the country, including for Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Trust.