The eminent paediatrician Roy Meadow is to face charges of serious professional misconduct from the General Medical Council over his role as a witness for the prosecution in three trials where mothers were wrongly accused of killing their babies.

Alan Williams, a Home Office forensic pathologist who gave evidence in one of those cases, will also be charged with serious professional misconduct by the GMC. Dr Williams's hearing is likely to take place in the summer and that of Professor Meadow in the autumn. The cases will attract immense public interest, after the acquittal of Trupti Patel and the overturning on appeal of murder convictions against Sally Clark and Angela Cannings, all …