GP's affair with patient: Dr Terence Burley and Christine Turner Mistress of GP waives anonymity to discuss six-year affair Dr Terence Burley appeared at General Medical Council tribunal last week Christine Turner insists Dr Burley 'pursued' her and used her 'financially and sexually' The whole spectacle was as undignified as it was compelling. It's not every day, after all, that a catfight breaks out between two middle-class mothers in their 60s on a quiet suburban street. So, what was behind this public scrap? Well, it was the first encounter between the wife and mistress of the now infamous Dr Terence Burley. Last month, he appeared at a General Medical Council tribunal over a six-year on/off affair with one of his patients. Though it was found that Dr Burley, 63, had "engaged in an emotional and sexual relationship," the assertion he had "pursued" her was rejected. Wife and mistress: Christine Turner, left, ended up in a six-year affair with her GP Dr Terence Burley But this story is far from black and white. The panel will reconvene in November to determine Dr Burley's fitness to practice, when he could be struck off. Up to now, the mistress has been known only as "Patient A." But here, for the first time, Christine Turner, a 62-year-old insurance fraud investigator, waives her right to anonymity to speak candidly about the relationship. And what she says is likely to inspire as much bewilderment and suspicion as sympathy. According to her, the doctor made all the running and "it was easier to give in than resist him." But her account of a mature, married mother incapable of resisting the unwanted attentions of her family doctor over six years does, at times, stretch credulity. "In my eyes, he was an important person - I'd been raised to think very highly of the family GP - and I felt weak," says Christine. Her family has been seeing doctors on the site of Minster Medical Practice in Peterborough, where Dr Burley is based, for more than 100 years. She has been going to the surgery all her life. Dr Burley joined the practice 25 years ago. "The other doctors were elderly and Dr Burley was a breath of fresh air," says Christine. He had an aura about him and there was always banter with women staff and patients. Christine had married her husband, Richard, a field support manager for BT, in 1974. In 1990, she gave birth to their son, Alex. GP and wife: Dr Burley with his wife - he told Christine Turner he had left her and wanted a divorce Tell-tale sign: 'Terry' conducted the affair while still married to his wife She was under Dr Burley's care during the pregnancy and began to see more of him in the years that followed after her elderly mother became increasingly frail. "Whenever we came out of the surgery, Mum always used to say: "He didn't listen to a word I said - he spent the whole time looking at you under his glasses." I can't say I noticed it. Christine separated from her husband in 1997 - "He had a problem with alcohol and I couldn't subject our son to it," she says. In need of a place to stay, she and Alex moved in with a man called Nigel, who was the family accountant and a friend. Within a few months, Christine and Nigel had begun a romantic relationship. They were living together when, in July 2003, Christine's mother suffered a ruptured bowel. She died two days later in hospital. Two weeks later, after the funeral, Christine phoned the surgery to make an appointment with Dr Burley to discuss her mother's death. I was very distressed. I wanted to know how it had happened and whether my mum had suffered," she says. Dr Burley suggested that I come to the surgery the next morning, which was a Saturday. It didn't occur to me the surgery is not normally open on a Saturday. When I got there, I noticed the car park was almost empty. Dr Burley came to the entrance. We went into his surgery and locked the door. Well, that was the start. I started crying about Mum and he suddenly propelled his chair on its wheels over to where I was sitting and put his arms around me. Then he started kissing my neck and tugging at my trouser belt. "He was squeezing my bottom and said: "You do realise you've got lovely buttocks, don't you? I've loved you for years, you know. I was horrified. I muttered something about having to pick up Alex from football and he moved away and said: "I'm sorry. I lost control. "I was desperate to get things back on an even footing, so I said: "Let's forget about it." He replied: "This could get me in a lot of trouble." On the Monday he phoned me and suggested we meet the following Sunday at the surgery to have a chat and be friends. I thought the incident on the Saturday must have been a moment of madness and it would be good to clear the air, so I agreed. He told me: 'You've got lovely buttocks... I've loved you for years, you know.' You might wonder why alarm bells didn't ring. But Christine says she felt sure they would just talk on this next visit. However, when she walked into Dr Burley's surgery she found a rug laid out on the floor. What happened next, she says, was out of the blue. "He took off his trousers and folded them pleat to pleat," she says. I asked if he always folded his trousers so neatly and he said he'd got the habit from years in the RAF. I was feeling nervous and uncomfortable. Astonishingly, Christine did not rush immediately for the exit. "I said: "You're married, what are you doing?" He replied his marriage was very unhappy. "Then he invited me to hold an intimate part of his body and said: "You'll like him." " Despite her nerves, and she says against her better judgment, Christine performed a sex act on Dr Burley. There were another four such meetings at Dr Burley's surgery, all at weekends. Three months later, the pair began having full intercourse at Christine's mother's house, which her daughter had inherited. And where did her boyfriend Nigel figure in her life at this point, you might wonder? "By then our relationship was more of a friendship," she says. Another man soon began to play a role in Christine's complicated world - her estranged husband Richard. In November 2004, Christine agreed that Richard, with whom she had remained friendly, could move into her late mother's house. Family doctor: Christine with her son Alex. She began seeing Dr Burley during her pregnancy in 1990 She says this allowed them to rent out their former marital home for some much-needed cash. Meanwhile, she and her son stayed with Nigel. A few months later, Christine was visiting Richard when Dr Burley turned up, looking for her. He remarked that Richard looked unwell and immediately arranged for tests, which showed he had advanced stomach cancer. Dr Burley told Richard he had "a month at most" to live. Christine split up with Nigel and moved back into her mother's home to help care for Richard, who died just 20 days later, in March 2005. All the while, her affair with Dr Burley continued. "He would visit me first thing in the morning, after surgery ended and in the evening," she says. He was stopping me having a life or meeting someone else. He was suffocating me. After we had sex he would get up to leave and I would feel like a prostitute. Why didn't she just end things if she felt so reluctant? "He was just so persistent," she says. Dr Burley's recollection to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service of the time between April 2005 and late 2007 was that he was "celibate." Celibate? Ha!" says Christine. Indeed, the panel found it was "more likely than not" there was a sexual relationship with Christine during this time. The relationship escalated: just before Christmas 2007, Christine says she was out with friends in a pub when Dr Burley walked in and announced he was leaving his wife. She agreed he could move in with her. But there was trouble ahead. "Terry was hugely in debt and I thought he was taking advantage of me financially and using me sexually," she says. He took off his trousers and folded them pleat by pleat - he said he'd got the habit from years in the RAF Then I found out from a friend whose wife worked at the surgery that he was still paying his wife around £3,500 a month. I was angry and asked him to leave. It was a twist worthy of a soap opera. Christine was so furious that, the following month, she went to a solicitor's office and paid £370 to have a statement taken that recorded the details of her relationship with Dr Burley. "I had strong reservations about his conduct and wanted it placed on record," she says. Yet, when he phoned her just a few weeks after her seemingly decisive visit to the solicitor and said he missed her, she instantly let him back into her heart - and allowed him to move back in with her. First born: Christine left Alex's father in 1997 because he had an alcohol problem, Christine says He said he'd left his wife and said he wanted a divorce. Again, I took him back against my better judgment. We weren't happy and my son hated Terry, which caused real tensions. Matters finally came to a head when Dr Burley told Christine his marital home was being sold. Suspicious, and curious about his finances, she turned detective. She took her dog for a walk past his marital home, only to find a "For Sale" board on the ground. When she phoned the estate agent to ask if the property was still for sale, she was devastated by the reply. The estate agent told her the house had been for sale, but had been taken off the market because the owners, a divorcing couple, were "giving their marriage another go." Christine immediately kicked Dr Burley out of her home. I told him I'd called the estate agent and what they'd said. When I asked what was going on with his wife, he just stared into space and mumbled something about having to talk about their difficulties. A few weeks later, in January 2009, wife and mistress laid eyes on each other for the first time. Christine admits that it was money, not lust, that drove her to track down Dr Burley, leading to a violent confrontation with his wife, Jane, a mother of four. "Terry had left me with a lot of debt - he'd promised to pay a direct debit set up to pay for doing up the house and I was saddled with it," says Christine. One day I spotted him driving his car and decided to follow him back to his house to tackle him. When he got out of the car, I started talking to him. His wife came to the door and asked who I was. She clearly had no idea about me. Terry was agitated and motioned for us to walk down the road. His wife was standing on the drive. She said to me: "I'm going to have you cautioned." And somehow, in the melee, I ended up on the floor. I got into my car and drove away. Back home I phoned the police to report her. The next evening two police officers turned up at my house and, to my astonishment, said they had come to arrest me. "I said: "Oh no, you've got it the wrong way round. I'm the victim. It's Mrs Burley you need to arrest. Two police officers turned up at my house. I said, 'I'm the victim. It's Mrs Burley you need to arrest.' The police told me they hadn't got it wrong and that Mrs Burley had reported that I'd attacked her. I was being arrested on suspicion of common assault and causing criminal damage. They put me in a cell for a while, but it was only when they realised that things might not have been quite how they had been led to believe that I was released on bail. In the end, no charges were brought against either of us. In one final blow, Christine contacted the GMC to tell all about her long affair with her GP. As for the Burleys, four months after the catfight, they renewed their vows. Mrs Burley recorded the details of the ceremony with the husband she calls her "soulmate" in a blog. "This was a choice made with mature reflection - we had chosen to forgive and to reconcile in celebration of 38 years of marriage," she said. In reality, marriage is a minefield of endless compromise and rumpled beds, if you're lucky! I remembered the reasons why I had agreed to do this, which were profoundly deep-seated. Over the past 30 years, I had raised my brood and rediscovered my academic confidence by going to Oxford as a mature student in my 50s. Little did I know then that just with all good things in life, for a woman there is always a price to pay for a glimmer, a taste of sheer joy. After the strain of her husband's investigation, which was heard last month, Mrs Burley may not feel quite so philosophical. As for Christine, she insists that despite appearances, she is not a bitter woman scorned who is bent on revenge. "I just want people to know what Terry Burley is really like," she says. I think about what my mum used to say all those years ago about him looking at me under his glasses - and she was absolutely right.