THE Colchester General Hospital consultant who trained a surgeon found dead in Syria says there is “no way” he killed himself.

Dr Abbas Khan completed the first year of his surgical training in Colchester before moving to Turkey in 2012 to provide humanitarian support to Syrian refugees.

He was jailed after he crossed into Syria to treat wounded civilians, without a visa.

Two days before his release after 13 months in jail, he was found dead in his cell.

Government officials say Dr Khan, 32, a father-of-two, committed suicide, but his family have said it was inconceivable he killed himself.

Dr Khan trained under consultant vascular surgeon Sohail Choksy at Colchester General Hospital.

Mr Choksy said: “We were looking forward to him coming home. He was a happy person with a promising career.

“He was kind and gentle, really dedicated to his job and he was really good at it.

“It was a huge shock when we heard he had died. There is no way he would have killed himself.

“He was a real family person.

He was also a devout Muslim so for religious reasons he would not have killed himself.”

For more on this story, see today's Gazette.