The boss of the health board which employed rogue surgeon Sam Eljamel has blamed bungling workers clearing out an old office for the destruction of potentially crucial evidence in the official probe.

NHS Tayside staff have been warned they may face criminal charges, punishable by up to six months in prison, for the destruction of around 40 theatre logbooks demanded by the Eljamel Inquiry.

We can reveal that Nicky Connor, the health board’s chief executive, admitted the documents were binned as junior staff cleared out a cupboard which had belonged to a retired senior charge nurse who had stashed away notebooks dating back to the 1960s.

Ms Connor, who earns a six-figure salary, failed to tell health secretary Neil Gray for almost TWO months that workers had found the logbooks while tidying up and then  binned them in line with policy.

It is the first time a detailed explanation has been made public and comes as part of a damning dossier against NHS Tayside disclosed by the Scottish Government under freedom of information powers.

Jules Rose, who has been on the forefront of the campaign for justice for Eljamel’s victims, said: ‘This demonstrates a shocking disregard for the Do Not Destroy notice and exposes a culture where accountability is simply not taken seriously within NHS Tayside.

‘The suggestion that vital logbooks were binned while tidying an office is wholly unacceptable.

‘The fact that theatre logbooks dating back to the 1960s were kept in a cupboard raises serious concerns about record retention and document management.

Logbooks for patients treated by disgraced neurosurgeon Sam Eljamel were shredded this year despite a 'do not destroy' order

Jules Rose, from Kinross, Perthshire, who campaigned for a public inquiry into disgraced NHS Tayside surgeon Sam Eljamel

Ms Rose, herself a patient harmed by Eljamel during his tenure as a neurosurgeon at Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital, said: ‘Despite clear Do Not Destroy notices already being in place, that represents a fundamental failure of governance.’

Ms Connor was hauled into an emergency meeting on November 27 with Mr Gray and others to explain the board’s blunder.

Minutes of the meeting state the Cabinet Secretary ‘expressed to Ms Connor his anger and that of patients’ and noted ‘this situation would compound the already existing lack of trust among former patients’.

They state: ‘Ms Connor advised that the destruction happened in July 2025, that she herself found out in September 2025 and was advised at that time that logbooks may have been destroyed and that it was unclear at that time what had been in them.

‘Ms Connor conveyed that a retired senior charge nurse had had theatre logbooks in a cupboard dating back to the 1960s, that junior staff discovered those while tidying and received advice from their information governance team that the materials should be destroyed in line with information governance principles.

‘The Chief Executive noted that, when it became apparent there may be an implication for inquiry requirements, an immediate pause was put on the destruction of confidential waste but that the materials were not found.’

In an email to Mr Gray the following day, November 28, she said it was an ‘error in a department which was clearing out an office and carrying out general housekeeping of that area’ and added that they were ‘not aware of any connection to Mr Eljamel’.

The files were sent for destruction on July 2025, ten months after the Eljamel Inquiry had issued the Do Not Destroy order.

Ms Rose stands next to Scottish Health Secretary Neil Gray outside the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood

NHS Tayside Chief Executive Nicky Connor admitted documents concerning Eljamel were binned as junior staff cleared out a cupboard

And it was more than a month after they were binned that the matter was escalated to the Chief Executive’s team.

This only happened on September 9, according to a timeline provided to the Nationalist health secretary by Ms Connor as part of the correspondence.

The same day staff were reminded again about the order, something Mr Gray was told had also happened before the destruction of the documents.

The email came after Mr Gray demanded answers as to how the documents were destroyed, with the Health Secretary telling Ms Connor in a letter dated November 27: ‘This is contrary to the Do Not Destroy notice issued by the Public Inquiry in October 2024, and a matter of serious concern.

‘I would stress that this action could be viewed as a breach of Section 35 of the Inquiries Act (2005).’

Last night Scottish Labour health spokesman Jackie Baillie said: ‘The destruction of these vital documents is at best a catastrophic mistake and at worst a cover-up.

‘The leadership of NHS Tayside had a responsibility to make sure the Do Not Destroy notice was followed and it cannot pass the buck for this breach to junior staff members.

‘NHS Tayside must do right by the victims of Sam Eljamel and uphold the highest standard of transparency from now on.’

Scottish Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland, and Fife, Liz Smith, added: ‘The destruction of the logbooks is bad enough but the lack of transparency about who was responsible for the loss just makes matters worse.

‘It simply isn’t good enough for NHS Tayside bosses to pass the blame to junior staff.

‘A Do Not Destroy instruction could hardly be clearer. What has happened within NHS Tayside is unforgivable and just brings more pain to the former patients.’

Willie Rennie, of the Lib Dems, said: ‘It is quite astonishing that medical records have been stored in a general cupboard for six decades but it is outrageous that permission was given to destroy them at exactly the point they were most required and when they had been ordered to keep them by a senior judge leading a public inquiry.

‘For Nicky Connor to blame “junior” staff is cowardly especially when those staff followed the guidelines by seeking and securing permission from management and it compounds the original offence of destroying invaluable records.

‘I am afraid the excuses from Nicky Connor just don’t wash and the patients of Eljamel deserve better than this.’

Earlier this year Ms Connor apologised to patients, including those treated by Eljamel, for data breaches within NHS Tayside.

A spokesman for the health board said: ‘A member of NHS Tayside staff received a request from Police Scotland Operation Stringent on 28 August 2025 requesting to seize theatre logbooks containing information regarding the surgical practice of Mr Eljamel from 1995 to 2013.

‘Upon receipt of this request, it was discovered that a number of hard copy theatre logbooks were destroyed in error on 24 July 2025. NHS Tayside remains deeply sorry that this happened.

‘As soon as the incident became apparent, the matter was escalated in NHS Tayside and an internal investigation was commissioned. The outcome of the investigation is that the logbooks were placed into the confidential waste stream for disposal by members of staff in the department where the logbooks were held.

‘The individuals involved were not aware of the connection between the theatre logbooks and Mr Eljamel and the disposal of the books was an error.’

He added Police Scotland and the Eljamel Inquiry have been advised of the investigation’s findings and the ‘extremely significant incident’ has prompted and external review to ensure no other documents are destroyed in error.

The spokesman concluded: ‘We are fully cooperating with the Public Inquiry and will continue to respond to all of its queries in relation to Mr Eljamel’s employment in NHS Tayside, and the Board’s actions.’