As health chiefs last week reported the worst outbreaks of measles across Britain in 20 years, slow progress was being made in bringing to justice the doctor who sparked the MMR scare.

At the high court in London, lawyers for the General Medical Council (GMC) gave the first public hearing to disciplinary charges against Andrew Wakefield, whose scientific paper published eight years ago caused millions to shun the vaccination for fear that their children might contract autism.

The charges against Wakefield, 50, are some of the most extensive seen. Timothy Dutton QC told Mr Justice Silberman that the GMC, the body that regulates doctors, was considering 10 counts of serious professional misconduct.

They include publishing “inadequately founded” research, obtaining funding “improperly” and subjecting children to “unnecessary and invasive investigations” without proper ethical approval.

Early next year these and other charges will be heard by the GMC’s fitness to practise panel. Empowered to strike Wakefield off the medical register, the hearing is expected to last two months and will be one of the most high-profile adjudications seen.

Wakefield was not in court last week. Having been shunned by colleagues in Britain, he runs a business in Austin, Texas, selling surgical tests for autistic children.

Among the cramped pews and gothic ornamentation of court 10, however, his presence hung over the proceedings.

The hearing had been called at the GMC’s request in an effort to obtain the court’s help in gathering documents. Wakefield has said he has lost vital documents and destroyed a key paper.

After more than two years of trying, the GMC’s frustrated lawyers were getting tough.

IN February 2004, after a Sunday Times investigation, Wakefield declared that he would welcome an inquiry as an opportunity to clear his name.

“It has been proposed that my role in this matter be investigated by the General Medical Council,” he said in a statement. “I not only welcome this, I insist on it.”

He may have insisted, but he did not cooperate. His lawyers, financed by the Medical Protection Society, have fought trench warfare against the GMC.

The GMC’s work has been made harder by the legislation that governs disciplinary proceedings against doctors.

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