A DOCTOR studying for an MA who had a year’s worth of notes stolen from her car has appealed to the public to return the documents.

Dr Melita Brownrigg has spent a year compiling the research for her 15,000-word dissertation on patients’ rights - which is essential to pass the degree - and will now have to repeat that work in just six weeks.

She points out that the notes are of no value to anybody else. She asked the Times to pass on her appeal to the thief - or anyone who has found them discarded - to return them to her.

She is a GP who has taken a year off to study an MA in medical law and ethics at King’s College London. She went for a weekend in Paris to celebrate the end of her exams, leaving her car in Beechwood Avenue, Kew, by the corner of West Park Road, near her sister’s home. The dark blue Audi estate was unattended from Friday morning to midnight on Sunday.

Some time during that period, a thief forced open the door lock of the dark blue Audi estate and stole the satchel, along with a CD and personal stereo. As well as the notes, the satchel contained a rare library book.

Dr Brownrigg had left the open satchel in view, thinking it would not attract thieves as it was clearly a student’s notes.

When she returned from the trip, she was appalled to find the files gone. She searched the surrounding area, finding no trace of her documents, and has reported the theft to the police.

She said: "I will have to go back over a year’s work. It contained so many references, as well as summaries of 240 legal cases."

The dissertation looks at human rights and how doctors can orientate their services more towards patients’ rights.

Dr Brownrigg said she would talk to her college and would perhaps be granted an extension of time - but it would still be impossible to research and write an essay of the same quality as her original.

The doctor lives in Cambridge. Anyone who can help should contact the Times.