The doctor who sparked the MMR controversy paid children £5 each to take their blood samples at his son's birthday party, a disciplinary panel heard today.

Dr Andrew Wakefield is accused of showing "callous disregard for the distress and pain" he knew or ought to have known the children might suffer as a result of his actions. He is also accused of abusing his position of trust and bringing the medical profession into disrepute.

Dr Wakefield and Professors John Walker-Smith and Simon Murch are appearing before the General Medical Council (GMC) Fitness to Practise Panel in central London to hear disciplinary charges against them.

They are accused of serious professional misconduct and face being struck off in a case expected to last several months.

The trio published a paper in The Lancet medical journal in February 1998 suggesting there could be a link between the triple jab - used against measles, mumps and rubella - and bowel disease and autism.

It led to falling numbers of parents immunising their children and a row over whether the then prime minister, Tony Blair, had vaccinated his son, Leo.

Before the hearing, parents gathered to show their support for Dr Wakefield - who now works in the US - by holding placards, clapping and cheering as he walked in. Some signs read "We're with Wakefield", while others said "Wakefield Cares".

He and his wife, Carmel, posed for pictures while a few parents chanted "There's only one Andrew Wakefield" and one shouted "It's a witch hunt."

The allegations against the doctors centre on investigations for their study on 12 youngsters with bowel disorders carried out between 1996 and 1998. At the time, all three doctors were employed at the Royal Free Hospital's medical school in London, with honorary clinical contracts at the Royal Free Hospital.

They are accused of performing colonoscopies and lumbar punctures on children without proper approval and "contrary" to the children's clinical interests.

Dr Wakefield and Prof Walker-Smith are also accused of acting "dishonestly and irresponsibly" in failing to disclose in the Lancet paper the method by which they recruited patients for inclusion in the study.

It is also alleged that a drug was administered to one child for experimental reasons.

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