For three years, Dr Mardan Mahmood, 54, lived an unlikely double life.

In Brighton, he was a respected medic working in the Royal Sussex County Hospital's haemotology department.

Fifty miles up the M23, he was the co-owner of a dry-cleaning shop in a down-at-heel district in west Croydon.

His double life has now led to the downfall of his medical career after the woman he is alleged to have wooed in a treatment room in 1999 began to suspect he was also conducting a love affair with a second woman.

Her complaint to senior hospital staff about him pursuing an affair with a patient and writing out his own prescriptions has triggered his dismissal for misconduct.

He told The Argus he was contesting the complaint.

The 54-year-old woman, who lives in Brighton, admits she was once in love with the doctor and believed his promises they would marry.

She claims she loaned him thousands of pounds and they took two foreign holidays together, in Majorca and Geneva, before their relationship turned sour.

Even after three years, much of his life remained a mystery to her.

But she was not aware there was someone else there claiming to be involved with Dr Mahmood until the second woman, known only as Sally, called her out of the blue 18 months ago.

The Brighton patient, a wealthy divorcee, said: "He said he wanted to marry me. I was completely taken in. He was a man absolutely packed with charm. Being a doctor was very important to him."

Dr Mahmood, a Kurd who moved to Britain from Mosel in Iraq about 20 years ago, had worked in the hospital's haemotology department for five years.

The woman, who had been attending the clinic three times a year for much of the past decade, had seen him several times before the fateful appointment in December 1999.

In a statement to the hospital trust, she said: "On this occasion Dr Mahmood discussed with me my health and then pushed his chair back and started to ask me a lot of personal questions."

One of these was about her living arrangements. She revealed she was selling her bungalow in Westdene to buy a flat elsewhere after the break-up of her marriage.

"He said if I bought a flat in Kemp Town, he would like to rent a room off me," her statement said.

Dr Mahmood was then living in Chapel Terrace, Brighton.

The woman later wrote asking if he was still interested in renting a room. She returned home from work one day to find he had left two phone messages, telling her to call him Martin because he preferred the name and asking to see her that night.

She said: "I agreed. When he arrived he obviously had other things on his mind - sexual things - and as soon as he had sat down he wanted me.

"I was not willing and tried to discuss the renting from me. He didn't seem interested at all. He left soon after and I thought: 'That is the end of that.'

"It wasn't the end of that. He phoned me a lot, using words of endearment, and we met a few times mainly for a drink in a pub.

"He pushed the relationship along very quickly and he bought me a ring. I gave it back to him. He bullied me all the time."

Despite this, their relationship blossomed and once she had bought a new home in Brighton, she moved briefly into his hospital accommodation while it was being refurbished.

She stayed several weeks before leaving for her new home. He moved some of his clothes into the flat and asked for a key.

She told The Argus: "I didn't spend that much time with him each week but it was a relationship. He was very cagey when talking about his life."

But she became increasingly disheartened after the two foreign holidays, which she described in her statement as "awful".

She said: "Our relationship went down fast. He spent little time with me and he was busy running his dry cleaning business. I eventually dumped him. I'd had enough."

She broke up with him in October 2002 after being called by Sally, who had discovered her number in Dr Mahmood's mobile.

Despite the break-up Dr Mahmood continued texting her. She said she found the messages offensive and upsetting.

One read: "U lying. U love sex with me but I don't have banana 4 u."

She also received further calls and texts from Sally.

The Croydon woman told The Argus: "I don't want anything to do with this. I'm getting on with my life."

The texts and phone calls continued until February this year when Dr Mahmood's former lover reported him to the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Royal Sussex.

An investigation began after she met with assistant complaints manager Lesley Green and deputy personnel manager Simon Morris.

She also alerted the hospital to Dr Mahmood writing out prescriptions for himself, contrary to General Medical Council guidelines.

One prescription, obtained by The Argus, shows Dr Mahmood ordering himself a week's supply of 625mg of Augmentin and 500mg of Erythromycin. Both are antibiotics, similar to penicillin.

The woman claims she also lent him £4,000 to £5,000 in a Barclays cheque dated August 16, 2000, and £1,000 in cash for a Mercedes and later another £3,000 in cash for Honda saloon.

He was paying the money back in monthly instalments but she said these had now stopped. The woman said he had paid back £4,400 so far.

But on February 23 this year, he texted: "I don't owe u any money. Ur solicitor and hospital is dealing with it."

She has consulted solicitors and wants to file a claim at Brighton County Court for the remaining money.

Dr Mahmood was dismissed last Friday and given two weeks to lodge an appeal.

The General Medical Council has been informed of the decision.

Dr Mahmood told The Argus: "I'm contesting it. It's under investigation. I can't say anything about it."