Kate Bleasdale, the Healthcare Locums Plc (HCL) director suspended last month pending an investigation into "serious accounting irregularities", has emerged as one of the shareholders behind calls to sack Chairman Alan Walker and replace the board, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reports.

A requisition to hold a general meeting to replace the board has been received by Healthcare Locums from Healthmark UK LLP, of whom the designated members are Kate Bleasdale the HCL Executive Vice-Chairman and her husband John Cariss.

The highly unusual request was fronted by 5% shareholder Permian. The investor claims to have irrevocable undertakings from 33% of shareholders in support of the resolutions. Ms Bleasdale, with 11%, and Tosca, with 15%, are understood to be the other major backers of the coup.

Ms Bleasdale has no intention of re-instating herself back to the board but intends to replace herself, Alan Walker and Financial Director Diane Jarvis with a team led by Michael Sinclair and Andrew McRae, both of whom have previously worked with Bleasdale as Chairman and Chief Executive at medical recruitment firm Sinclair Montrose.

In 2000 Sinclair Montrose made a loss of -3.5 million Pounds following a report by the Financial Reporting Review Panel, which found that the company had incorrectly capitalised millions of Pounds of developments costs, The Daily Telegraph has established.