A lorry driver who proved that he was innocent of a child’s murder by studying neurology in his prison cell was freed by the Appeal Court yesterday.

Kevin Callan spent four years in jail for the killing of his girlfriend’s four-year-old daughter. But the court heard yesterday that expert evidence at his original trial was flawed.

Mr Callan’s research showed that Amanda Allman, who had cerebral palsy, did not die from being shaken by him, as medical experts had testified. Lord Justice Swinton Thomas praised Mr Callan’s “tireless” work to establish his innocence since his trial three years ago and declared his conviction for murder “unsafe and unsatisfactory”.

“It is a matter of regret to this court that he was convicted in the first place,” he said. The judge said he would not criticise the “professional men” who gave evidence against Mr Callan at Manchester Crown Court in January 1992.