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Expert 'used evidence out of context'
By Lech Mintowt-czyz, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 23.06.05The paediatrician whose flawed opinions helped wrongly convict four mothers of baby-killing rode roughshod over the world's most comprehensive study on cot deaths.
Professor Sir Roy Meadow used sections of the biggest ever study on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome so badly out of context he turned its conclusions on its head.
The report concluded that families who had suffered one cot death were more likely to experience a second, but Sir Roy told the court the chances of such a occurrence were one in 73 million.
The evidence he gave in the case of solicitor Sally Clark in 1999 helped wrongly convict her of the murder of her two sons Christopher and Harry. His evidence was also critical in the conviction of Donna Anthony for the murder of her children Jordan and Michael, of Angela Cannings for killing her two children and of Trupti Patel in 2003 over the deaths of her three babies.
Today a General Medical Council (GMC) disciplinary hearing in Euston was told how Sir Roy, 72, had " misrepresented" the report by Professor Peter Fleming, a world authority on cot death.
Professor Fleming, of the University of Bristol, told the hearing it should have been "quite clear" to anybody that the mention of the one in 73 million statistic was based on assumptions known to be factually incorrect and that it was clearly illustrative.
Appeal Court judges who freed Mrs Clark in 2003 said the claim was "tantamount to saying that, without consideration of the rest of the evidence, one could be just about sure that this was murder."
When Professor Fleming heard about the possibility of the figure being used in evidence against Mrs Clark he was so horrified he tried to intervene by sending a letter to her legal team.
The GMC panel is considering a charge of serious professional misconduct against Sir Roy relating to the evidence he gave against Mrs Clark in October 1999.
The prosecution believe he "breached his duties as a medical expert witness."
The hearing continues.
