TWO women who lost rape cases against a Merseyside doctor are mounting a legal challenge through the civil courts.

Both women, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claim Dr Darwish Hasan Darwish put them under hypnosis before raping them.

He was cleared of the first allegation of rape in 1999 and found not guilty of the second allegation two weeks ago - despite DNA evidence proving he was the father of his alleged victim's 15-year-old daughter.

The woman had always believed her husband of 30 years was the father.

It was only when her husband noted that their daughter resembled Darwish's children that suspicions were raised.

After the case, at Preston Crown Court, it emerged Darwish was already serving a sixyear sentence for a string of sex assaults on women over a 10-year period while he worked as a gynaecologist at Wirral's Arrowe Park Hospital.

The woman said: "We will do whatever it takes to pursue this man who has destroyed our lives.

"He may have got away with the criminal charge, but a civil judge may see it differently."

Now both women, who got in contact after hearing about each other's situation, have teamed up in a "campaign for justice".

They are being backed by a firm of medical litigation solicitors, Alexander Harris, for a civil action which could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The firm says it is willing to challenge the law which states their claim may be out of time; the first alleged attacks happened more than 15 years ago.

Jenny Kennedy, partner at Alexander Harris, said: "It is wholly unjust and unfair that a victim who could not remember being raped, yet it was conclusively proved he fathered her child through DNA tests, should be denied justice.

"Now a civil case could be brought against this man and we are investigating all legal avenues to pursue him.

"She was referred to him by the NHS, they may be culpable.

"There may be a Trespass to the Person and there may be a case to pursue him for upkeep of the child which is undoubtedly his."

Sudanese-born Darwish, 55, from Caldy, Wirral, studied medicine in Alexandria in Egypt before coming to Britain in 1971.

He began practising gynaecology in 1975 and was hailed as a "miracle worker" for his pioneering work in fertility research.

In the 1980s, he pioneered a treatment known as GIFT - gamet intra-fallopian tube transfer - which provided an alternative to test-tube babies for infertile women.

The treatment was a massive breakthrough, allowing fertilisation to take place inside the body of the mother.

Darwish became a celebrity and his face became familiar to many in newspapers and on television.