Three parents imprisoned over the deaths of their babies are challenging their convictions over concerns about the evidence of the leading pathologist dealing with suspicious deaths. Tana Adkin KC, representing one of the parents, told The Times that all of Professor David Mangham’s previous cases should now be reviewed by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). It has been reported that at least three High Court judges have raised concerns in the past six years over his evidence.

Parents jailed over the deaths of babies are appealing against their convictions amid miscarriage of justice concerns involving a top British forensic expert, a Times investigation can reveal | ✍️ @JamesSBeal reports

— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) October 9, 2025

Professor Mangham is described as ‘the main – and sometimes only’ bone pathologist dealing with suspicious death cases in the UK. He is now the subject of a General Medical Council inquiry having referred himself following criticism in a case where he identified non-accidental rib fractures on a 21-month-old girl who had been found asphyxiated by a scarf in a tragic accident. In that case, it was reported that the infant’s grieving parents were questioned by police over the fractures, but a court later ruled they had probably been caused by a fall and a subsequent attempt to resuscitate her. Older rib fractures identified by Mangham on the infant’s body were found to be the normal remodelling process in young children’s bones — i.e., not fractures.

According to the Times report by deputy investigations editor James Beale, police forces have paid Mangham’s laboratory more than £1 million in eight years and are still using his evidence. Prof Mangham was said to have testified in 2023 that he dealt with up to 110 cases a year alongside his NHS job as a consultant histopathologist in the sarcoma unit at Royal Marsden Hospital, London. He runs his own laboratory, Calamat Ltd, for the medicolegal work. The Times reckons that the laboratory had been paid at least £1.1 million by police forces between 2017 and 2024, in 386 separate payments.

But at least three High Court judges have raised concerns about Mangham’s workload or the quality of his evidence in the past six years.