A trial against a doctor facing a series of charges of improper conduct against female patients was dramatically halted yesterday after counsel defending the GP revealed he wished to interview people who had come forward to give statements which might assist his client.

The move came as the Crown concluded its case against Dr James Hammond, of Erskine, Renfrewshire.

Advocate Andrew Lamb, defending, asked Sheriff David Pender to rule there was no case to answer arguing that the prosecution had failed to prove any of the breach of the peace charges the GP faces.

Depute fiscal Lesley Thomson agreed to drop one of the charges but insisted there had been enough damning evidence from patients, and the sheriff agreed that seven charges should stand and be defended.

The case will now resume next week, two days having been set aside to take evidence from defence witnesses.

Mr Lamb told the sheriff that potential new witnesses had made contact with his client's surgery, claiming they had important information. He said the information available could well have a bearing on his line of examination of the accused, who is due to go into the witness box next, and could bring into question the credibility and reliability of some Crown witnesses.

Sheriff Pender agreed to the adjournment, saying he felt it would be fair to the accused in view of the serious consequences which would follow if he was convicted.

Earlier yesterday, as the trial entered its third day, the court heard claims that Dr Hammond had kissed a schoolgirl in his surgery as she visited for treatment for a sore throat.

The teenager, now aged 16, said Dr Hammond, 52, began to quiz her about sex and asked if she would like to be put on the pill.

The consultation, when she was just 15, embarrassed her so much that she tried to walk out of the room. As she did so, she claimed, he told her the conversation was not to go any further as it ''was a secret''.

She told Paisley Sheriff Court: ''As I got up to leave, he put his hand on my shoulder, came forward and kissed me on the lips.''

Hammond denies charges alleging he conducted himself in a disorderly manner and committed a breach of peace against eight female patients between October 1990 and April 1997 at Erskine Health Clinic where he worked.

It is alleged he placed patients in a state of fear and alarm and made indecent suggestions.