Williams appears before GMC

A Home Office pathologist who claimed there was
“overwhelming evidence” of a double murder in the Sally
Clark baby case undertook “serious and repeated
departures” from expected medical standards, a disciplinary
panel heard this week, writes Amy
Taylor.

Dr Alan Williams is appearing before the General Medical
Council’s professional conduct committee accused of serious
professional misconduct over the post-mortem examinations he
performed on 12-week-old Christopher Clark in 1996 and
eight-week-old Harry two years later.

Sally Clark was jailed for life for smothering the boys but had
her conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal after spending three
years in prison.

The committee, sitting in London, has already ruled that
Williams failed in his duty to consider all possible causes of
death and said his post-mortem of Christopher was so impaired it
could not be considered reliable.

It also previously decided that he had withheld details of some
blood samples taken from Christopher and had originally given the
cause of death as lower respiratory tract infection. A diagnosis
which it found “did not have a proper scientific
basis”.

The committee is now considering if Williams’ practice
amounts to serious professional misconduct. Williams denies the
charge. The hearing continues.