LITTLE more than a year ago, Professor Sir Roy Meadow wore the crown of the children’s champion. As a paediatrician he was credited with discovering Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy, a particularly insidious form of child abuse. When he stated that one sudden infant death was a tragedy, two suspicious and three murder, until proven otherwise, his aphorism was dubbed Meadow’s Law. By appearing as an expert witness at the trials of mothers convicted of murdering their babies, he had helped jail some of the most repulsive criminals our society has produced. Or so we thought. Over the past 12 months, Sir Roy has seen his professional reputation all but destroyed…

The Scotsman