BMJ  2005;330:272 (5 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7486.272-b

News

Pathologist in Sally Clark case accused of being "slapdash"

BMJ

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The Home Office pathologist who carried out postmortem examinations on the two babies of Sally Clark (whose conviction for murdering them was later overturned) was "slapdash" in his approach to vital evidence, the General Medical Council was told last week.

Alan Williams, aged 58, was incompetent and acting beyond his expertise, Roger Henderson QC told the professional conduct committee at the start of a four week hearing. Dr Williams denies serious professional misconduct (bmj.com, 29 Jan 2005, News Extra).

Dr Williams failed to disclose the results of microbiology tests on Mrs Clark's 8 week old son Harry, which showed Staphylococcus aureus at eight sites in his body, including the cerebrospinal fluid.

He initially gave the cause of death for 12 week old Christopher as a respiratory tract infection, but after Harry's death he changed his mind and concluded that there was evidence of smothering. He put Harry's death down to . . . [Full text of this article]

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