Clark pathologist ‘below standard’

A Home Office pathologist who claimed there was “overwhelming
evidence” of a double murder in the Sally Clark baby case fell
short of expected medical standards, a disciplinary panel was told
this week.

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

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

It has also decided that he had withheld details of blood
samples taken from Christopher and had given the cause of death as
lower respiratory tract infection, which “did not have a proper
scientific basis”.

The committee is now considering whether Williams’s practice
amounts to serious professional misconduct. Williams denies the
charge.

The hearing continues.