IVF clinic raids ruled 'unlawful'

Mr Taranissi is Britain's most successful test-tube baby doctor

Raids carried out on two IVF clinics run by fertility doctor Mohamed Taranissi have been ruled unlawful.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, accompanied by police, searched the London clinics in January.

The High Court has quashed both search warrants obtained by the HFEA regulatory body and awarded Mr Taranissi his costs.

An HFEA spokesman said they regretted any distress that may have been caused to Mr Taranissi's patients.

The case was expected to go to a full hearing after a judge granted permission for a judicial review three months ago.

The cost to the tax-payer of this exercise must be enormous Mohamed Taranissi, fertility doctor

But the HFEA has now told the High Court that it accepts that the statement on which it applied for warrants to search the Assisted Reproductive and Gynaecology Centre and the Reproductive Genetics Institute was not "legally watertight".

An HFEA spokeswoman added: "We would wish to stress that the HFEA acted in good faith and on advice.

"Our aim is to protect patient safety and ensure patients choice and we regret any distress that may have been caused to Mr Taranissi's patients."

However, the HFEA said its licence committee would still be considering whether the ARGC and RGI clinics should have their licences renewed and granted respectively.

'Very pleased'

Mr Taranissi said he was "obviously very pleased" about the outcome.

But he added the whole episode raised serious public interest questions about the way the HFEA had acted.

"The cost to the tax-payer 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 raids were carried out on the same day that a Panorama programme about Mr Taranissi was broadcast.

He is suing the BBC for libel saying that the allegations made in that programme were inaccurate.

Dr Mark Hamilton, chair of the British Fertility Society expressed concern about the case.

He said: "The regulator needs to be accountable, and it needs to maintain the trust and confidence of the sector.

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

"The British Fertility Society will be asking the Department of Health to conduct a full investigation."