Posing with Scots lover, the GP who’s had more f lings than Doctor Foster
A DISGRACED GP who destroyed two marriages and was suspended after running off with a patient now has another new man in her life.
Dr Clare Nettleton’s love life became public three years ago when she was suspended by health bosses after sleeping with two patients and then leaving her husband for one of them.
Her tangled love life has seen her being nicknamed ‘Dr Foster’, after the steamy BBC drama starring former Coronation Street actress Suranne Jones.
Dr Nettleton left first husband Chris Davis for 45-year-old patient Richard Atkinson, and the couple married last year after he left his wife and two children for her.
However, her relationship with Mr Atkinson was short-lived and the marriage lasted only six months.
Now 49-year-old Dr Nettleton has reportedly started a new relationship with Scottish police officer Andy Duncan, who works in Forfar, Angus.
The long-distance relationship – with the couple living more than 500 miles apart – has seen the doctor travel north from her Somerset home for a break in the glens where her new partner enjoys regular cycle rides with friends.
In her controversial career the mother-of-two was suspended from working at Williton Surgery in Somerset for three months after being caught accessing the medical records of Mr Atkinson’s wife and two daughters, who were aged just six and nine.
She worked at another surgery on Exmoor before returning to the Williton practice.
Mr Atkinson left his wife Lucy Large for the doctor after the pair fell for each other at a New Year’s Eve party, according to The Sun. At the time of the original scandal Dr Nettlevillage ton wrote a letter to Miss Large, apologising and saying her behaviour was ‘wholly wrong’ and had made worse what was already ‘a difficult personal situation’.
Dr Nettleton, a regular Facebook user, has been described by villagers as a ‘selfie queen’ and there are dozens of such photographs on her social media page. ‘She seems to thrive on the attention,’ one villager told the newspaper.
‘She used to mow her lawn in her bikini knowing it would outrage the village but she didn’t care. And we were supposed to respect her as a professional.’
Dr Nettleton lives in a Grade II-listed five-bedroom period cottage dating back to 1650 in the 800-population medieval of Dunster in West Somerset. The doctor, who was born in Watford, Hertfordshire – and first registered as a doctor some 25 years ago – bought the semi-detached property on the edge of Exmoor National Park for £363,500 three years ago.
In December 2015 she lost a job in administration at a dispensary which involved her working with medical records. It was understood staff at the Dunster surgery had protested at the doctor being given such a sensitive role, but complaints and concerns were overruled by a senior partner.
When she faced a disciplinary hearing in 2015 the doctor admitted two improper and unprofessional relationships, with one of them involving a man with serious psychiatric problems who was said to be a close family friend.
The Somerset Partnership Foundation Trust said: ‘All of these are private matters and we will not be commenting.’
Yesterday Dr Nettleton was not available for comment.