AN internal investigation will continue into the death of a staff nurse at the Hospital following last night’s not guilty verdict in the manslaughter trial of a consultant.

Dr Dolores Moyano Ontiveros was acquitted of the charge of causing the death of Elizabeth Rourke during a routine operation in October.

However, confusion still surrounds the fact that leading gynaecologist John Day was not called as a witness in the trial. His decision to leave Dr Moyano to operate on her own that day came under sustained attack during the three-week trial.

But neither the prosecution nor defence teams offered him the chance to give evidence – which even bemused UK judge Sir Richard Tucker, who, in the absence of the Assize jury, expressed his surprise that Mr Day was not giving evidence. Dr Moyano did not take the stand either.

Yesterday the jury of nine men and three women took four hours to reach their verdict. During the trial surgeons said that they had battled for hours to save Mrs Rourke, who suffered catastrophic internal bleeding after her main vein was cut and her womb perforated during the initial operation.

The Hospital’s chief executive, Mike Pollard, said that an internal investigation into the incident would continue now the trial was completed. He added: ‘We plan to make public the key findings and recommendations of this investigation in due course. Patient care is always of paramount importance and we are never complacent.’

• Picture: Dr Dolores Moyano leaves the Royal Court after being found not guilty of manslaughter. Picture by Tony Pike (00614410)