A plagiarism allegation against a senior academic has been dismissed after a hearing heard that the student did not own copyright to a disputed dissertation.

Dr Remco Polman, a practitioner psychologist, faced a conduct and competence committee hearing at the Health Professionals Council (HPC) last Friday for allegations that he plagiarised a dissertation by former Leeds Metropolitan University student Jeannette Cohen, which he denied.

Last week, the HPC panel heard that Ms Cohen "was not the legal owner of the material". Ms Cohen, 33, from Bushey, says she is "outraged" by the ruling and may take further steps.