Regulator's fertility clinic raids are ruled unlawful

Britain's fertility regulator has been forced to concede defeat in a legal action against a leading London clinic that has cost it more than £1m.

Leading doctors including Lord Winston, the labour peer and fertility pioneer, demanded the resignation of Angela McNab, chairman and chief executive of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, and said the "fiasco" had cast doubt on the organisation's future.

Raids on two clinics run by Mohammed Taranissi, a leading fertility specialist, by the HFEA last January accompanied by police were yesterday ruled unlawful.

The High Court quashed search warrants obtained by the HFEA after the authority accepted that the statement on which it applied for the warrants was "not legally watertight". The court awarded Mr Taranissi his costs.

The case was expected to go for a full hearing until the HFEA's admission. A spokesman said the authority regretted any distress caused to patients. It added that it would still be considering whether the two clinics should be licensed.

Mr Taranissi said he was "delighted" with the outcome, but " dismayed" by the actions of the authority. "The cost to the taxpayer of this exercise must be enormous. It grieves me that money, estimated to be in excess of £1m, which could have been spent on research or genuine issues of patient safety, has instead ended up in the pockets of the lawyers.The whole episode raises serious public interest questions about the way the HFEA acted in this case," he added.

Fertility specialists attacked the HFEA over the failed action. Lord Winston, of Imperial College, said: "This is further evidence of the complete incompetence of the HFEA and the need for the workings of this organisation to be radically reviewed. This situation will do nothing at all to protect the interests of vulnerable patients."

Mark Hamilton, chairman of the British Fertility Society, said the HFEA had to maintain the confidence of the clinics that funded it.

"In this case, this has not happened, and the HFEA needs to look hard at how it can regain this trust."

The raids coincided with a BBC Panorama investigation into Mr Taranissi, broadcast last January which made a series of allegations about his practice. Mr Taranissi is suing the BBC for libel.