An NHS doctor who lost his job after he suggested a patient needed to be exorcised of demonic 'forces' has been cleared of wrongdoing after watchdogs said he was using his own Christian beliefs to help her.
Locum psychiatrist Dr Julius Awakame, 50, gave the woman the name of a 24-hour Nigerian television station run by an evangelical church in Lagos saying: 'Neither psychiatry not psychology would be able to help because there are special forces at play.'
But the disturbed woman - who said she was a childhood victim of a ritualistic satanic paedophile ring - was so upset at the consultation she 'switched off' before fleeing the room at a health centre in Harwich, Essex.
She later claimed the church was 'an abusive place' for her and the fact Awkame mentioned it had 'destroyed' her faith in doctors and affected further therapy.
Later when a community psychiatric nurse quizzed Awkame whether the woman - known as Patient A - was possessed by demons, the medic replied: 'She may well be.'
The consultation took place on January 23 2014 when Awakame was treating the vulnerable woman as an outpatient.
The doctor's employment with the North Essex Partnership Foundation Trust was terminated the following month.
Awkame, who has since returned to his native Ghana, has now been cleared of misconduct after the Medical Practioners Tribunal Service said his approach was 'empathetic and appropriate'.
It concluded the Emmanuel TV channel and the associated website Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) was not expressing 'extreme or pernicious views'.
Tribunal chairman David Kyle told the Manchester hearing: 'By indicating that he was a Christian, Dr Awakame was being supportive and encouraging, in that he was giving Patient A a signal to indicate that she could speak freely.
'The Tribunal does not believe that he was either talking about or pressing his own beliefs on her in order to persuade her to look for a spiritual, rather than medical solution.
'Rather he was responding empathetically and appropriately to what he understood to be Patient A's overpowering belief in the satanic ritual nature of the abuse she had experienced and its impact on her health.
'Patient A had, however, rejected the church due to her previous experiences as she considered this to be part of the abuse that she had suffered - and somewhat inevitably, therefore, she was likely to react badly to any suggestion of spiritual solace.
'By responding as he did, Dr Awakame was seeking to convey his understanding and acceptance of what Patient A strongly believed, not what he believed.
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