AN anaesthetist pumped five times the safe amount of electricity into a five-year-old girl after she stopped breathing in a dentist chair, the General Medical Council heard.

A hearing heard Dr George Vanner, 68, allegedly made a series of 'grave errors' after he put five-year-old Karla Selley to sleep while a milk tooth was removed at Towngate Dental Practice, Leyland.

When the child woke up from the routine procedure she turned a 'greyish-colour', stopped breathing and died in Royal Preston Hospital later that day.

The child's distraught mother Tracy Marsh told how she was kept in the dark while her daughter died in a dentist's chair.

As the girl began to come around after the operation her pulse dropped to zero and Dr Vanner used a defibrillator which administers an electric shock to jolt the heart beating.

Manufacturers of the machine say it should not be used on children weighing less than 36 kgs. Karla weighed only 20kgs.

Mrs Marsh said she had asked for the tooth operation to be done under general anaesthetic because of the child's fear of the dentist.

She said she was not given any detail about the risks involved in general anaesthetic but signed the consent form.

Dr Vanner and dentist Michael Lane were both cleared of manslaughter on the judge's direction at Preston Crown Court.

QC Vivian Robinson, for the GMC, said that Dr Vanner had made a catalogue of calamities that day.

Dr Vanner, registered at Brockside Barn, Badgers Wood, Preston, was not present at the hearing but indicated via a letter that he denied serious professional misconduct.

The hearing in London continues.