A FATHER has slammmed the General Medical Council after it found the doctor who first suggested a link between MMR vaccinations and autism had acted unethically.

David Thrower, who believes his son, Oliver, aged 22, became autistic after being given a measles jab at 15 months and the MMR vaccination aged four, said: “Oliver was developing normally and learning new things all the time until he had his measles jab.

“He then lost words and skills and stopped learning. We saw his development stop and go backwards.

“He gradually began to improve but regressed dramatically after his MMR jab. He now has to have a special diet because of bowel problems and he has no self help skills.”

In 1997, 59-year-old Mr Thrower, who lives on Ackers Lane, Stockton Heath, became aware of Dr Andrew Wakefield’s research and his 1998 Lancet study, which linked MMR to regressive autism and bowel disease and led to the longest misconduct inquiry ever held by medical regulators GMC.

He and colleagues Dr John Walker-Smith and Dr Simon Murch were charged with offences relating to research they had conducted during the 1990s at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north London, concerning the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, introduced in the late 1980s, and its supposed links to autism in children.

It was alleged he carried out invasive tests on 12 youngsters and paid children £5 for blood samples at his son’s birthday party.

Dr Wakefield’s study caused vaccine rates to drop, which resulted in a rise in measles cases.

In a hearing on Thursday, the GMC said the actions of Dr Wakefield were ‘dishonest’ and ‘irresponsible’, that he did not act in the best clinical interest of those children included in the study and that he ‘failed in his duties as a responsible consultant’.

The GMC case did not investigate whether Dr Wakefield’s findings were right or wrong, but focused on the methods of research.

Mr Thrower, who attended the hearing, condemned the findings and added: “My view is the GMC inquiry was misplaced and has not heard all the evidence from some of the witnesses. The medical establishment is determined to try to destroy Dr Wakefield’s credibility.

“I think what it has done is frame the doctors on massive technicalities when they always acted in the best interests of their patients and focused fully on making them better and finding out what affected them.

“I’m confident scientific advances will continue and that we will get to the truth in the end. I fully accept the need to vaccinate children but those vaccines must be 100 per cent safe.”