An award-winning NHS heart specialist lied about his private practice income for eight years to avoid paying £410,000 in taxes.

Professor Raad Modiaddin, who lives in Vineyard Road, Wimbledon Park, was a highly respected consultant radiologist at the Royal Brompton Hospital before he was caught out.

He was also a professor of cardiovascular imaging at the National Heart and Lung Institute Imperial College London, according to HM Revenue and Customs.

He was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence of 15 months today at Blackfriars Crown Court and told to pay back £200,000 within 28 days or go to prison for two and a half years, after pleading guilty to an offence of cheating the public revenue.

Anthony Swarbrick, assistant director of the fraud investigation service at HMRC, said: "Until our investigators caught up with him, Mohiaddin had made no effort to pay his fair share of tax, even ignoring the opportunity to put his tax affairs in order through a campaign we ran for medical professionals.

"As an NHS specialist he knew only too well how vital public funds are to the health service and to those individuals who need its care and support - including the very patients he was employed to treat.

"His career and reputation are now in tatters and he faces losing his ability to practise medicine in the UK."

The HMRC had run a voluntary disclosure campaign for medical professionals launched in 2010.

A spokeswoman for the Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust said: "All consultants undertaking private work are made aware that they are responsible for their own tax affairs for any non-NHS work, and sign a declaration to confirm that they understand this to be the case.

"Following the conclusion of legal proceedings, any disciplinary action can now be considered in line with the trust’s internal policies and procedures."