A CITY doctor says he has sympathy for the family of Simon Rutley-Frayne and the medic who killed him.

Dr Mark Meller, 36, who was jailed for killing motorcyclist Mr Rutley-Frayne and seriously injuring his wife, Caroline, in a road crash has escaped getting struck off the medical register.

Caroline was too upset to speak to the Echo yesterday but Dr Adrian Midgley, the Exeter representative of the British Medical Association, said: "I feel sympathy for everyone involved. I cannot comment, however, on the particular circumstances of the case."

Dr Meller, 36, who has a home in the city but worked as a consultant radiologist at North Devon District Hospital in Barnstaple, was told this week by the General Medical Council (GMC) he will be allowed to practise after completing his two-year sentence imposed at Exeter Crown Court last September. He was found guilty of causing the death of Mr Rutley-Frayne, 39, from Tiverton by dangerous driving. His wife, who was a pillion rider had to have her right leg amputated as a result of the crash on the A396 Tiverton to Stoke Cannon road as they headed for work at the Exeter offices of the Devon Wildlife Trust in November 2008.

At the fitness to practice hearing, the GMC stressed the offence was so serious it was "bound to diminish public confidence in the profession".

It said: "The panel wishes to make it clear that in anything other than exceptional circumstances the appropriate sanction in such a case is, at the very least, a lengthy period of suspension to send a signal to the profession and public that such conduct cannot be tolerated."

Members concluded Dr Meller was a "truly exceptional" clinician and took into account his "genuine remorse". They said: "The evidence as to your character and professional standing before and after these tragic events is overwhelming.

"The panel considers it would be neither proportionate nor in the public interest to impose a sanction which would deprive patients of your services. This case should be concluded with no further action."

They admitted their ruling had been "extremely difficult", adding: "The panel must take into account the expectation that a doctor who has been convicted of a serious crime should be subject to clear censure by his professional body.

"Against that consideration, the panel must weigh another aspect of the public interest, namely the value to society of returning an outstanding doctor to clinical practice."

In court, the doctor was also banned from driving for seven years and ordered to pay £5,000 towards costs after admitting to overtaking another vehicle and being on the wrong side of the road when he hit the bike.