The doctor at the centre of the MMR vaccine controversy was told by a mother that her child showed signs of autism after receiving the vaccination — and that other parents were facing the same problem, a medical hearing heard yesterday.

Dr Andrew Wakefield. 51, said that he found the story of a link “compelling” and that it “merited attention”. It was his duty as a human being to help mothers who came to him seeking answers, he said.

Dr Wakefield faces being struck off the medical register after publishing in The Lancet in 1998 findings that suggested the triple vaccine could cause inflammatory bowel disease and autism.

Dr Wakefield and Professors John Walker-Smith and Simon Murch are accused of serious professional misconduct relating to investigations undertaken on 12 children between 1996 and 1998. They deny the charges, which run to 32 pages.

He had “absolutely not” abused his position as a doctor in helping this mother, he told the hearing before the General Medical Council in London.

After he published an earlier paper speculating on a possible link between a measles vaccine and inflammatory bowel disease, Dr Wakefield said that he received several calls from parents.

One, referred to as Mrs 2, told him that her child started to show signs of autism and had “terrible bowel problems” after being given the vaccine.

Dr Wakefield said that this “made a great deal of sense” to him as a gastroenterologist because of a well-known link between the gut and the brain. “The story was compelling and certainly merited attention,” he said.

“Mrs 2 said that she was in contact with many parents who had exactly the same experience. Their children had developed chronic bowel problems and autistic regression, often following MMR, but not necessarily, and that they believed the two were linked.”

Dr Wakefield told the GMC that he advised Mrs 2 to ask her GP for a referral to John Walker-Smith at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.

Later the child was included in a study conducted by Dr Wakefield. In doing so the GMC alleges that he violated ethical guidelines and acted against the interest of the children.

Asked by his solicitor, Kieran Coonan, QC, if he was in breach of his position at this time, Dr Wakefield said “absolutely not”. He added: “I think if I had not given her that advice, if I had not responded in the way I did, then this panel would have every reason to have me before it. It was my duty as a physician and as a human being to respond to the plight of this mother, and, if I could, point her in the direction of someone who could help her, that was my absolute obligation.”

The three doctors had developed a hypothesis linking MMR and autism and decided to conduct clinical studies to test it, the GMC was told.

The hearing continues today.

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