A tribunal found Dr Heath bungled two post-mortem tests

The Advisory Board for Forensic Pathology upheld 20 disciplinary charges against Dr Michael Heath.

It ruled that his conduct brought into question his fitness to practise.

Last month Dr Heath's evidence in the murder conviction of Steven Puaca, of Lowestoft, was criticised. Mr Puaca was later cleared by the Appeal Court.

The Advisory Board found that Dr Heath bungled post-mortem examinations on two women leading to their partners being tried for murder.

Dr Heath gave evidence when Simon Hall was convicted of murder

It found that in both cases Dr Heath's professional performance fell short of the standards required of forensic pathologists by the secretary of state.

The six-week hearing in London was told that Dr Heath refused to back down on his view that the two women had been murdered despite mounting evidence to the contrary.

In one case, Mr Puaca was jailed at Norwich Crown Court in 2002 for killing Miss Jacqueline Tindsley, 55.

The second involved Kenneth Fraser, who faced an Old Bailey trial, also in 2002, for murdering Miss Mary Anne Moore, 56, but was cleared by a jury.

Charles Miskin QC, for the Home Office, told the hearing that in neither case was there any substantial evidence of unlawful killing, except Dr Heath's testimony.

High-profile cases

The hearing, which was expected to reconvene on Monday, has now been called off.

Dr Heath has conducted hundreds of official and high-profile examinations since being appointed to his role in 1991, including into the Lynn and Megan Russell murders and the death of Stuart Lubbock at Michael Barrymore's Essex house.

He was also the pathologist in the case of Simon Hall, from Ipswich, Suffolk, who was jailed for life in 2003 for murdering Joan Albert, 79, of Capel St Mary.

The group Justice4Simon is trying to overturn the conviction and has won the support of Ipswich MP Chris Mole.