At home in her Surrey cottage yesterday, Isobel Gowan refused to comment on the waiting list scandal for which she is being held responsible.

With a black Volkswagen Golf convertible in her drive amid quiet woodland in Dorking, she remained tight-lipped on what drove her to wipe hundreds of patients from waiting list figures.

She first hit the headlines when, in April last year, she received a £151,000 golden handshake as she left Surrey and Sussex Healthcare Trust.

While there, she was never forgiven for spearheading the downgrading of Crawley Hospital two years ago, which called for major departments to be moved from Crawley to East Surrey Hospital, Redhill.

Residents in Crawley and Horsham set up Crawley Hospital Campaign opposing the measures.

At the time, Mrs Gowan, 40, gave no reasons for leaving her £92,000-a-year-post or of her plans.

The trust described it as "a mutual agreement" and one of the reasons given was that she had failed to meet performance targets.

At the time the trust was unaware hospital waiting list figures had been manipulated in order to appear to be meeting Government guidelines.

It was only discovered when her successor took over last June.

An inquiry by the regional office of the NHS Executive makes it clear Mrs Gowan must take responsibility for the mismanagement and false reporting of waiting lists.

She was made chief executive and stayed in the post for four years. She came to Crawley Hospital six years earlier as director of corporate development and deputy chief executive.

She succeeded Graham Elderfield as Crawley Hospital chief executive when he left in 1996.

Shortly afterwards, she became chief executive when Crawley and East Surrey Hospitals merged to form the trust.