A CORONER investigating the deaths of patients treated by disgraced breast surgeon Ian Paterson will open and adjourn a further 11 inquests on Friday.

Paterson was jailed for 20 years in 2017 for offences related to unnecessary and unapproved procedures.

Judge Richard Foster has been appointed as a coroner to conduct the inquests into suspected unnatural deaths among his patients.

He told a pre-inquest review hearing last month that a multi-disciplinary team of health professionals had so far reviewed 417 cases involving his former patients.

Today a statement issued on behalf of the coronial investigation announced a further 11 inquests this week.

It said that the causes of death of another 294 patients are unknown after their death certificates could not be traced.

Paterson performed unapproved “cleavage-sparing” mastectomies on patients, risking a return of cancer.

He worked at Spire Parkway Hospital and Spire Little Aston Hospital in the West Midlands and NHS hospitals run by the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust.