SIR ROY MEADOW, the expert whose evidence helped to convict at least three mothers of murdering their children, first came to prominence in the late Seventies.

He claimed that many parents deliberately harmed their babies in order to draw attention to themselves, the condition known as Münchausen syndrome by proxy.

He became a regular in the witness box in a series of trials, making no secret of his view that many mothers were getting away with murder when the deaths of their babies were attributed to sudden infant death syndrome (Sids), or cot death. In 1999, when he had already retired from Leeds University, he wrote in Archives of Disease in Childhood that doctors and coroners had overlooked signs of bleeding, broken bones, and foreign bodies in the airway because they were under pressure to resolve cases quickly.

He cited the cases of 81 children judged by the courts to have been murdered by their parents. In 49 cases, these deaths had initially been classified as Sids, while 29 were classified as deaths from natural causes. Nearly half had been admitted to hospital — and discharged within a week of their deaths — for “unusual or unexplained events”.

Sir Roy, 70, a former President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, gave evidence in three cases where there had been two or more cot deaths in a family — the Clark, Patel and Cannings cases. All three convictions have now been overturned on appeal.

He wrote a defence of his evidence in the Clark case in the British Medical Journal in 2000, soon after Sally Clark’s first appeal had failed. He claimed that nobody ever suggested that the deaths of the Clark children were cot deaths, and eight pathologists were called to give evidence.

In Mrs Clark’s first appeal, the court concluded that the evidence was overwhelming. But her second appeal succeeded, and Mrs Clark was freed.

Professor Meadow’s supporters say he is a man of skill and compassion and have pointed out that without his work people such as Beverly Allitt — the nurse suffering from Münchausen syndrome by proxy who murdered four children and harmed nine others — might not be behind bars.

The General Medical Council said yesterday that they were investigating Professor Meadow but would not release further details. “We will decide what action, if any, needs to be taken,” a spokeswoman said.

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