July 2002

Like many parents, Catherine Sutcliffe did not hesitate when she was told by her doctor that her 14-month-old son Joshua should receive the MMR jab.

But the 36-year-old Halifax classroom assistant and her husband Mark, an IT consultant, say Joshua was never the same again after the jab in 1992.

Mrs Sutcliffe said: "He stopped being the child he was. He began rocking backwards and forwards, he stopped eating and put his fingers in his ears. He became autistic."

Four other children inoculated with the same batch of vaccine are autistic. Mrs Sutcliffe last year launched legal proceedings against one manufacturer of MMR, after the brand was withdrawn.