Nearly 30,000 NHS hospital doctors are now paid at least £100,000 a year by the cash-strapped NHS, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The number of staff on six- figure salaries has risen by a quarter in five years, according to NHS Digital, the Health Service’s official statistics body.

Doctors account for more than 90 per cent of NHS staff in the six-figure club. The number of ‘professionally qualified clinical staff’ in England with total earnings over £100,000 rose from 23,835 in 2011 to a staggering 29,776 in 2016. In addition, 2,403 managers were also paid over £100,000 last year, as were 80 people described as working in administration.

Their lavish pay contrasts with the majority of NHS salaries. Nurses and midwives earn £31,000 on average, and maintenance staff earn £17,000.

Last night, Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb said: ‘It’s a disturbing trend given the extent to which pay rates at lower levels in the NHS are being so heavily constrained through the one per cent cap.

‘I suspect there will be a sense of injustice for many that wage rates at the top appear to be increasing significantly.’

The figures mean that two-thirds of England’s 44,000 consultants now earn more than £100,000. Most do not earn that in salary alone: their pay scale starts at £76,761, and only those who have served 19 years as a consultant earn more than £100,000 in basic pay. But critics argue the bonuses are arbitrary, overly generous, and much more likely to be given to men than women.

In February, it emerged that a consultant at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals in Preston earned £84,000 in basic pay – but a further £456,000 in overtime. He also received a £35,700 clinical excellence award and £2,990 for being on call, taking his total pay to more than £575,000.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘No one begrudges paying doctors and nurses well for the tough jobs that they do. But pay increases must be linked to performance and not paid out as a matter of course. NHS bosses need to make sure that they not using taxpayers’ money to reward failure.’

A recent study found that just over half of England’s consultants now receive a bonus of at least £17,000, with some receiving the top level award of £77,000. But of 252 new awards made in 2015, only 65 went to women.

Ministers want to review the NHS consultants’ contract and change the pay structure. They want to stop automatic rises for ‘time served’ and curtail the clinical excellence awards. Despite the name, these awards are not one-off payments. Once granted, doctors usually get the bonuses every year until they retire.

But after the bruising encounter with junior doctors over pay and conditions, the Government is wary of picking another fight with the medical profession. 

This is the dramatic moment a senior member of the international Kinahan crime cartel is arrested in his Spanish hotel bed.

Armed officers held the Irishman after storming his room as he was fast asleep beside an unidentified woman at the hotel in the Costa Dorada resort of Salou 60 miles south of Barcelona.

Footage released by police showed the elite team - carrying semi-automatic weapons with flashlights on them - running into the room after getting radio orders to strike as colleagues went in through a back terrace.

They can be heard shouting in Spanish, 'Las Manos, Las Manos' - English for 'Hands up, hands up' before yelling in English, 'Don't Move'. The 34-year-old Irishman, wanted on weapons and drugs charges, appeared to be asleep at the time although the television in his hotel room was still on.

The fugitive, also a suspect in the 2010 murder of gang boss Eamon 'The Don' Dunne who cannot be named for legal reasons, was driven to Madrid after his arrest for an extradition hearing. It was not immediately clear today if he had consented to extradition or opposed his forced return to Ireland at the behind-closed-doors hearing.

The hotel where the arrest took place has not been named.

Today Spanish police revealed they had come close to catching the wanted 'major league' gangster in November last year at Malaga airport. He escaped after crossing a busy motorway as officers closed in on him when he went to meet relatives arriving from Ireland.

The European Arrest Warrant was issued after two guns and cocaine were found in his car during a 2013 search.

He is also understood to be facing serious charges over the gunning down of Eamon Dunne at a friend's birthday party at a pub in Cabra, Dublin in April 2010 in what was described at the time as 'a perfect hit.'

The gangland boss was sitting on a bar stool when his killer calmly walked in and told other terrified customers to 'get on the floor' before blasting his victim with two shots to the head and three others to vital organs. 

The number of lung cancer cases among non-smokers has doubled in the last decade, with experts blaming air pollution on the rise. 

If the trend continues, the number of deaths from lung cancer among non-smokers will leapfrog those among nicotine users in a decade.  

Previously, nine in ten cases of the disease were linked to cigarette use, but this proportion has decreased as more people shun the habit.   The increase in lung cancer rates among non-smokers was noted by experts at the UK's largest cancer surgery centre, London's Brompton Hospital and Harefield NHS Trust, The times reported. 

National data regarding lung cancer among non-smokers is hard to obtain, so other researchers are yet to notice the trend. 

However, a similar trend has been observed in America.  

Currently there are 36,000 deaths from lung cancer and 46,400 new cases each year. 

Just one in 20 patients lives for more than ten years, making lung cancer one of the deadliest forms of the disease. Stephen Spiro is a former head of respiratory medicine at University College Hospital and an honorary adviser to the British Lung Foundation. 

He told The Times' Oliver Moody: 'There is no good evidence that lung cancer is becoming commoner in never-smokers.'

China has seen a sharp rise in the incidence of lung cancer in the past 10-15 years, with many blaming heavy smog in cities. Experts at the China Academy of Medical Sciences said they had noticed more cases among non-smokers and women.    

Its study said there had been a rapid increase in a form of lung cancer that develops deep in the lung and is not associated with tobacco use.

China has been waging a battle against air pollution, with concentrations of small, deadly particles known as PM2.5 often topping 300 micrograms per cubic metre.

Last year's national average stood at 47 micrograms, with only a quarter of cities meeting the country's official air quality guideline of 35 micrograms. 

The World Health Organisation recommends levels of no more than 10 micrograms.   

The iPhone 8 will feature a hands-free way to silence notifications, according to a new leak.

By just glancing at the device, users will be able to mute sounds and ringtones for text, calls and other notifications. 

The capability was discovered by Guilherme Rambo, an iOS developer who found code suggesting the feature in the leaked HomePod software and has been tweeting other findings - including the discovery of facial recognition - over the past few weeks. A feature that utilizes similar technology has been available on some Samsung phones for several generations.

Called, 'Smart Stay,' it keeps the phone active when a user is looking at the screen.

Not much else is known about this feature for the upcoming iPhone other than the fact that is made possible by the rumored facial recognition technology, which was also discovered by Rambo. Last week, he first suggested the new device will likely feature facial expression detection after uncovering a potential 'attention detection' feature in the code.

He tweeted: 'There's also a lot of new references to facial expression detection,' along with the section of the code he was referring to.

Facial references include 'mouthsmile', 'mouthfrown' and 'mouthpucker,' which are likely to be linked to the rumored facial recognition feature. Days later, he uncovered one of the first additional uses for the facial recognition technology - Apple Pay.

It's now believed facial recognition rather than Touch ID will be used to authenticate payments.

The specific code references 'passbook.payment.contactlessinterface' with 'pearl.field-detect' and 'pearl.pre-arm,' which is believed to the rumored Face ID. 

Earlier this week, a case for the iphone 8 revealed what appears to be the best peek at the much-anticipated handset yet. The latest in a string of leaked images comes from a case maker, who often get an early look at devices in order to have cases ready at the time of launch. But Kuo said the company was able to alleviate supply chain issues and will enter the product verification stage this month.

He added, however, that the phone will be in short supply, with the company producing only 3 to 4 million devices in this quarter. 

But he expects production will ramp up quickly, reaching between 45 million and 50 million units this year.

Apple's goal was to have between 3 and 4 million devices ready for launch with 50 to 60 million being available by the end of 2017, but sources said that goal is in danger. 

He only expects between 35 and 38 millions iPhone 7s units to be produced along with 18 to 20 million iPhone 7s Plus units.  

Members of a traveller family have been convicted of running a modern slavery ring which kept one of its captives in 'truly shocking' conditions for decades.

Vulnerable people were forced to work for the Rooney clan for little or no wages, while their pay-masters lived a life of lavish luxury.

The 11 gang-members, convicted of fraud and slavery charges, enjoyed holidays to Barbados and cosmetic surgery and even shelled out on a Manchester United soccer school, earned off the backs of their workers.

Operating from sites in Lincolnshire, they targeted victims who were homeless, had learning disabilities or complex drug and alcohol issues.

The men, aged 18 to 63, were freed after raids by Lincolnshire Police and the National Crime Agency, carried out in 2014. Some of the gang also targeted four elderly home-owners, getting them to sign over properties into their names and selling three on for profit - one for £250,000.

One the householders ended up dying without his family knowing. It was only when contacted police they discovered they had missed his funeral.

After four trials resulting in convictions, the full scale of the offending can now finally be revealed following a ruling at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday.

Judge Timothy Spencer QC said: 'After careful consideration, I'm quite satisfied the public interest lies in these matters being reported.'

Members of the family would go looking for victims on the streets, hostels and shelters, offering work for food and accommodation.

But at sites in Drinsey Nook and Washingborough, the offers of fair work for fair pay were exposed as lies.

However, it was through false promises, drugs, alcohol and violence, family members made sure they kept their victims 'financially-trapped' and under total control. Labourers were forced to live in shabby run-down caravans, or in stables next to kennels, with little or no access to basics such as heating, water and toilets.

Some were forced to squat in woods behind their living areas, while electricity was 'dangerously' tapped from a nearby pylon.

In all, 18 men were forced to work at the sites or for the Rooneys' businesses, repairing properties and tarmacking drives.

Most told how they were never given safety equipment or the right clothing.

A mother-of-two who downed morphine before veering onto the wrong side of the road and crashing into another driver has been jailed for 28 months.

Sylvia Brown caused life-changing brain injuries to 23-year-old Amy Lawrence when she crashed into her in Cranbrook, Kent after smoking cannabis and taking prescription drugs.

Despite slurring her speech and falling asleep as she spoke to police and paramedics in the aftermath of the crash on November 2, 2015, Brown initially claimed she had taken nothing stronger than cough syrup on the morning of the accident.

Blood tests later revealed the cocktail of drugs she had taken including prescription oramorph and codeine. 

The 53-year-old lied to police telling them the traces of cannabis came from passive smoking at a party the week before the horror smash.

During her trial Brown admitted she had 'made a mistake in panic' and that she was in fact a regular user of cannabis, smoking a joint each night before going to bed.

She maintained however that she had not consumed the drug on the morning of the accident, or taken her prescription morphine or any codeine. 

But today Brown's trial took a dramatic turn when she changed her plea and admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving. Brown, who suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said the only medicine she had taken the day of the crash was Benylin cough syrup.  

She was driving her Honda Civic when she ploughed into Miss Lawrence's Mini Cooper convertible at about 5pm.

The Honda, said to be travelling at 40mph, struck the side of Miss Lawrence's car, forcing it onto the pavement and a grass verge.

It left the keen equestrian with a brain injury which causes her both short and long-term memory loss, mood swings and constant headaches. 

The court heard she also sustained a hairline fracture to her breastbone, a sprained coccyx, an ear injury which has caused permanent tinnitus, and fractures to her left hand that required three operations but resulted in nerve damage and loss of grip.

She can no longer ride or drive, and has been unable to return to her job as an accounts administrator.

The court heard Brown was prescribed the morphine-based painkiller two months before the crash.

She said she usually took a dose every two to three days. She had also recently moved house and told her GP in October that she was anxious and under 'great physical stress'. 

But her doctor warned her of the implications of oramorph on her driving ability, the court was told. 

The force of the smash on the A229 Hartley Road between Cranbrook and Hawkhurst flipped Brown's car onto its roof. It then skidded along the road before striking a Ford Mondeo, driven by a work colleague of Miss Lawrence's. 

Brown made no attempt to slow down or swerve as she veered across the chevrons separating the lanes of the straight and wide road and into Miss Lawrence's path. 

As well as struggling to talk and stay awake, she was agitated and argumentative with police, avoided eye contact and had 'pin-point and fixed' pupils. 

An accountant who stole £350,000 from her employers walked free after a judge said she would not fit in in prison.  

Natalie Saul, 37, from Wandsworth, south London raided technology firm Idio's accounts to feed her gambling addiction and blew more than £250,000 playing online poker.

The mother-of-one submitted more than 400 fake invoices to get the cash from the software company between March 2015 and December 2016.

But Saul was given a two-year suspended sentence and 250 hours unpaid work by Judge Catherine Newman, who admitted her sentence was 'wholly exceptional' and fell outside sentencing guidelines. 

She told Southwark Crown Court Saul was 'not the general stuff of which the prison population is made'.

The judge added: 'I'm taking a considerable risk that the Crown will think it lenient and appeal, but it's a risk I'm willing to take.'

Lucie Daniels, defending Saul, had argued her client was 'shaken' by the loss of her grandmother in 2013 and was a committed charity worker.

'This offending is so out of character, she has worked hard and paid her taxes and been a responsible citizen,' said Ms Daniels. Yet her charitable efforts could not mitigate the loss to Idio, who hemorrhaged a total of £348,439 to her gambling addiction.

Saul's deception relied on her privileged role as office manager for the firm. She created fake invoices to the company which she sent to herself.

She then altered the details to her own bank account, paid herself the cash, and switched the bank details back to avoid detection.

Finally she marked the invoices as paid, using her knowledge of the company auditing system to escape attention.

The fraudster was caught when she went on maternity leave in December 2016 and a new CFO took over and spotted hundreds of fake invoices.

It was only after she was challenged by the company that she confessed her crimes, and admitted one count of fraud at Westminster Magistrates Court on July 13.

Judge Newman said she was on the brink of giving her a sentence of three years and four months, before being persuaded she was unfit for prison. 'You abused your position of control over your employers bank account,' said the judge.

'You devised and created over 400 accounts for stealing money by a fraud using a sophisticated method which involved some planning.

'Each account required six steps. First you raised fake invoices to the company account system.

'Secondly you used knowledge of auditing to reduce risk of detection. You amended the bank details of the recipient to your own bank account.

'You paid the invoices to yourself. Then you changed the bank details back to the original supplier.

'Finally you marked the invoices as paid. You did this for over a year. It has caused considerable harm to your employer which could ill afford to lose such a substantial sum, but thankfully survived.

'Your grandmother's death rocked the stability of your hitherto good citizenship. You had a steady partner who had no idea of your gambling addiction and stands by you.

'I'm prepared to take the wholly exceptional course of reducing your sentence and suspend it.'

Saul burst into tears as Judge Newman told her the sentence was suspended.

Saul was given a two-year suspended sentence and 250 hours community order for one count of fraud by abuse of position.