THE Court of Appeal has reserved judgement until October in the case of the North Yorkshire consultant psychiatrist William Kerr.

Lawyers for Kerr, aged 75, of Haigh End, Alne, had claimed that he was the victim of an "oppressive" procedure after he was placed on the sex offenders register - despite being found mentally unfit to stand trial on rape and indecent assault charges.

The Court of Appeal in London has been asked to overturn a "finding of fact" from a jury at Leeds Crown Court last December, which found that Kerr had indecently assaulted a woman patient 14 years ago.

Because he suffers from a brain-wasting disease Kerr was not officially tried when he appeared at Leeds, after which he received an absolute discharge.

For Kerr, Robert Smith QC had argued at the Court of Appeal that his case was a criminal one and came under the Human Rights Act.

But Paul Worsley QC, for the Crown, said of the Leeds hearing: "That these were not criminal proceedings was referred to in the defence's unfitness to plead opening."

Updated: 11:21 Friday, July 27, 2001