A property once owned by the notorious Dr John Bodkin-Adams has been sold for more than £600,000 following a flurry of interest.

The four-storey Victorian building fetched slightly more than its asking price after spending less than eight weeks on the market.

More than a dozen parties expressed an interest in the building in Trinity Trees, Eastbourne, which was thrust into the spotlight in the mid-Fifties.

Bodkin-Adams, branded Dr Death, was acquitted at the Old Bailey in 1957 of murdering one of his patients, Edith Morrell.

However, although not proved in court, Mrs Morrell was believed to have been one of many elderly patients killed by Bodkin-Adams.

He was struck off the Medical Register but later reinstated and continued to practise at Kent Lodge, his home and surgery for more than 50 years, until his death in 1983.

Bodkin-Adams's reputation as a killer never deserted him, with police believing him responsible for many more deaths.

Sarah Curran, of estate agents Stiles Harold Williams in Gildredge Road, Eastbourne, said: "There has been great interest in the property, despite its reputation."

Bodkin-Adams moved into the cream-coloured property in 1930, aged 30, after borrowing the £3,000 asking price from a benefactor.

He took with him his mother, cousin, servant and chauffeur and spent £2,000 converting it into a surgery.

Bodkin-Adams was the beneficiary of 132 wills, which amassed him £45,000 in cash and trinkets plus a Rolls-Royce car.

However, people in Eastbourne were astonished when he stood trial accused of murdering Mrs Morrell.

Nurses suspected he had deliberately given her increasing amounts of various medications.

After being acquitted, the doctor sold his life story to a national newspaper for £10,000, which was found untouched in its original envelope after his death.

Following his death, Kent Lodge fell into near-ruin after decades of neglect.

In 1984 a consultant surgeon bought the property for use as consulting rooms and flats.