The paediatrician who accused the husband of the solicitor Sally Clark of murdering his children was struck off the medical register yesterday for suggesting to a mother that she might have drugged and murdered her 10-year-old son.

David Southall, 59, was found guilty of misconduct by the General Medical Council’s Fitness to Practise panel. Its ruling came three years after Dr Southall was found guilty of serious professional misconduct over the Sally Clark accusation.

After the verdict, Jacqueline Mitton, the chairwoman of the panel, told him: “Your multiple failings over an extended period caused the panel great concern. . . . in all the circumstances the panel has concluded that you have deep-seated attitudinal problems and that your misconduct is so serious that it is fundamentally incompatible with your continuing to be a registered medical practitioner.”

Dr Southall did not react as the ruling was given. He now has 28 days to appeal.

The verdict will cause unhappiness among many paediatricians who feel that Dr Southall has been subjected to a witch-hunt orchestrated by parents affected by his crusading zeal. He has been repeatedly referred to the GMC.

Choosing her words carefully, Patricia Hamilton, the President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said that the college was “saddened and disappointed” by the judgment.

“David Southall has made a major contribution to child health both nationally and internationally and has been a strong advocate for children during a distinguished career,” she said.

“Sadly there are circumstances where parents may have harmed their children, and in these situations health professionals have a statutory duty to act on their concerns and look after the best interests of the child. This is clearly defined in the Government’s document Working Together to Safeguard Children.

“We are very concerned that paediatricians and social workers will be deterred from undertaking child protection work, and that children and young people may come to harm.”

Dr Southall has been a controversial figure for many years. He pioneered the use of covert video surveillance to identify children at risk of child abuse. This showed children aged 2 months and 44 months being deliberately injured in hospital by their parents or stepparents.

But the success of the covert filming made him enemies and supporters of Dr Southall claim that the GMC has been too ready to listen to them.

The case that concluded yesterday arose from Dr Southall’s interview with the mother of a boy who was found hanged from a curtain rail at his home. A social worker who was present at the interview and made notes said that, rather than an outright accusation, Dr Southall had suggested murder as one possible explanation of how the child had died.

But the panel said that the mother was a clear, honest and credible witness, while the evidence of the social worker was “not wholly convincing”.

Giving evidence via a video link from Adelaide, Australia, where she now lives, Mrs M broke down as she described the interview with Dr Southall. She said: “Professor Southall . . . said there are only three ways that my son could have possibly died, the first being an experiment – I didn’t quite know what he meant by that – the second one was that he meant to do it, and the third was that he was murdered.

“Professor Southall turned to me and said, ‘I put it to you that you killed your son by injecting him, hanging him up, leaving him there and then ringing an ambulance’.”

West Mercia Constabulary found no evidence to substantiate Dr Southall’s claims.

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