Arrogant British doctor perverted the course of justice

David Southall, the controversial paediatrician, inappropriately accused a grieving mother of killing her son by hanging him, a misconduct hearing ruled yesterday. Professor Southall, 59, was formerly found guilty of serious professional misconduct after his role in the case of Sally Clark, who was wrongly jailed over the death of her two sons. In the latest case, he was said to have acted like a "Crown prosecutor" when he accused the woman of murdering her ten-year-old son by "hanging him up and leaving him to die".

The General Medical Council ruled yesterday that his actions were "inappropriate, added to the distress of a bereaved person and were an abuse of his professional position".

He also removed medical notes to create "special case" files on children and was found guilty of a series of other allegations relating to children in his care during the 1980s and 1990s.

A fitness-to-practise panel will decide later this week whether Professor Southall is guilty of a charge of serious professional misconduct, which he denies, and whether he should be struck off the medical register.

Professor Southall was suspended from child protection work in 2004, having been censured after interfering in the Sally Clark case. He had accused Mrs Clark's husband, Steve, of murdering the two boys on the basis of a TV interview, and suggested that the couple's third child was at risk. Mr Clark was completely exonerated. But the family said that his wife never recovered from the trauma of her ordeal: in March she was found dead.

The latest misconduct hearing began in November 2006. The GMC's fitness-to-practise panel was told that Professor Southall aggressively interviewed the woman, referred to as Mrs M, and asked her to demonstrate the moment that she found her dead son, known as M1, using a pencil and shoestring. A second mother, known as Mrs H, claimed that he had treated her son like a "lab rat" and accused her of abusing her ill child.

This year the Attorney-General ordered a special review of criminal cases in which he had acted. The panel ruled that he "damaged the integrity" of hospital medical records by removing documents and adding them to his own files.

Professor Southall, who worked at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London and then the North Staffordshire Hospital NHS Trust, kept "special case" files on two children, the GMC panel was told.

Mrs M had been interviewed by him in 1998 at the request of a local authority after concerns were raised about the safety of her younger son, who had been taken into care. The boy was 8 when his ten-year-old brother hanged himself in 1996. But Professor Southall barely asked Mrs M about her other son, and instead accused her of having Mnchausen's syndrome by proxy and murdering her eldest boy.

Giving evidence via video link from Adelaide, Mrs M described the interview: "Professor Southall turned to me and said, `I put it to you that you killed your son by injecting him, hanging him up, leaving him there and then ringing an ambulance'," she said.

Jacqueline Mitton, chairman of the panel, said: "It had been found you failed to respect Mrs M's dignity." It was also found that he failed to treat her "politely or considerately", in a way that she could understand, that was inappropriate and caused her distress. Professor Southall's handling of medical records in relation to four other children also came under scrutiny. He was cleared of effectively setting up secret computer medical records.

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Australia: Top cop criticised at murder inquiry

A TOTAL of 14 adverse findings have been recommended against West Australian Assistant Police Commissioner Mal Shervill for his role in a 1994 murder investigation. Counsel assisting the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC), Jeremy Gormly SC, completed his recommendations at the corruption inquiry, which is investigating whether there was any misconduct by public officers in the wrongful conviction of Andrew Mallard in the 1994 murder investigation of Perth jeweller Pamela Lawrence.

Mr Gormly said there had been an early and undue focus on Mr Mallard as a suspect in Mrs Lawrence's murder. But Mr Gormly said it would have been difficult and unlikely the police would have found Simon Rochford, the man who some say was the likely killer. "The only piece of evidence the offender (Rochford) left at the scene was a partial palm print," Mr Gormly said. Mr Gormly said if the murder had remained unsolved the palm print would have been entered into a data base which may have led police to him. Mr Rochford committed suicide in a WA jail after the print was found last year when the case was reviewed.

Mr Shervill, who headed the police investigation into the murder, had failed to disclose statements and test results to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Gormly said. Mr Gormly will soon begin outlining his recommendations to Assistant Commissioner Dave Caporn.

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