Inquest ‘guessing game’ admission

LEEDS: The partner of a Yorkshire mother and beautician who died during a ‘butt lift” operation in Turkey was told after her death that the procedure was a “guessing game”, an inquest has heard.

Wakefield Coroner’s Court was told yesterday that Leah Cambridge, 29, from Leeds, was “paranoid about her body” and saw an advert on Instagram.

THE PARTNER of a mother-ofthree from Yorkshire who died during a cosmetic surgery operation in Turkey was told following her death that the procedure was a “guessing game”, an inquest has heard.

Wakefield Coroner’s Court was told yesterday that Leah Cambridge, 29, from Leeds, was keen to have the work done as she was “paranoid about her body” and had seen the procedure advertised on Instagram, but was unaware of the risks involved.

The beautician, a mother to three young boys, travelled to Izmir in Turkey in August last year to have the so-called “Brazilian butt lift” done but died during the operation, the inquest heard.

Her partner, Scott Franks, said he travelled to see her body and meet those who conducted the operation, which reshapes the buttocks by transferring fat from areas including the stomach and back, as soon as he heard she had died.

He told the inquest that the surgeon who undertook the procedure, Dr Ali Uckan, had appeared “nervous and scared” when they spoke a day after Miss Cambridge’s death.

Mr Franks added that the surgeon said of the operation: “It’s a guessing game, you can’t see where you are going into.”

He said Dr Uckan’s “exact words” were: “It’s a matter of life and death when you are doing it.”

The surgeon said in a statement that he had performed the

procedure “in the region of a thousand times”, with no complications like those suffered by Miss Cambridge.

Asked about his reaction to her death, Mr Franks said: “You don’t think it’s real, and I still don’t now. You never expect something like this to happen to yourself.”

Dr Lisa Barker, a consultant histopathologist for Leeds Teaching Hospitals, said Miss Cambridge died after fat entered her circulatory system and eventually blocked the pulmonary artery to the lungs.

The inquest, which is due to last three days, continues today.