The eminent paediatrician Professor Sir Roy Meadow has been found guilty by the General Medical Council of giving "erroneous" and "misleading" evidence at the trial of a woman accused of killing her two sons.

The GMC found that Prof Meadow, 72, failed in his duty as an expert witness to explain the limited relevance of his findings in the case of solicitor Sally Clark who was found guilty of murdering her babies.

The paediatrician, from Woodgate Lane, Leeds, told Mrs Clark’s 1999 trial that the chance of two babies dying of cot death within an affluent family was "one in 73 million". But today a GMC fitness to practise panel sitting in London ruled that some of his evidence was not balanced and was erroneous in parts.

The GMC will now decide whether Prof Meadow’s actions amount to serious professional misconduct. If found guilty, he could be struck off the medical register.

Mrs Clark was convicted in 1999 of murdering her two sons Christopher and Harry but had her conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2003.

Today the GMC ruled that Prof Meadow did not intend to mislead in evidence he gave at Mrs Clark’s trial. However, six members ruled that his overall evidence was misleading and that he "erroneously implied" that two deaths in a family would be independent of one another. In fact, evidence showed that the chance of a second baby dying of cot death within the same family was increased.

The GMC also ruled that Prof Meadow was in breach of his duties as expert witness when he said at a hearing at Chester Magistrates’ Court that the odds against two infant deaths in a family being natural were "long odds of one-in-a-million" and could be likened to "winning the jackpot".

Earlier Prof Meadow told the disciplinary hearing that his use of statistics at Mrs Clark’s trial was "insensitive". He said he had used analogies during the trial to try to make statistics more comprehensible, but he added: "I am uncomfortable with it. I don’t like the racing analogy. To raise a subject like the Grand National, that is exciting and vibrant, is insensitive and I should have thought of more appropriate odds."

Prof Meadow always denied the charges against him.

The case was brought by 40-year-old Mrs Clark’s father Frank Lockyer. Speaking after the hearing he said it was wrong to use the word "happy" in relation to the outcome. He said: "No one is in any doubt that the evidence on which my daughter was convicted was seriously flawed. This hearing was first and foremost about culpability and accountability which seems to have been well and truly settled."

He said whether the case amounted to serious professional misconduct and what sanctions may be imposed were now matters for the GMC. He had not yet had chance to speak to Mr or Mrs Clark but said he was satisfied with the outcome.

"No one’s happy are they? How can anybody be happy in these circumstances. The whole thing is a tragedy," he said. He added that he was not into "dancing on anyone’s grave" but said: "I’m as satisfied as I can be."

The panel will hear evidence in mitigation this afternoon before retiring to consider whether Prof Meadow is guilty of serious professional misconduct.

Prof Meadow also gave evidence in the trials of Donna Anthony in 1998 and Angela Cannings in 2002. Mrs Cannings, 42, from Saltash in Cornwall, said she was both happy and unhappy with today’s ruling.

She said she wanted to wait for the end of the case before making a full statement but added: "We hope and we pray that the GMC will hold him accountable and act appropriately.

"One of my biggest questions is why has it taken him so long to be brought to book? We are waiting in anticipation for the next step. If they take action and make him accountable, it means they have now recognised that a professional has got it badly wrong.

"But if they don’t make him accountable, then myself and other parents will be seeking to bring complaints about him before the GMC by ourselves."

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