Evidence from the paediatrician Sir Roy Meadow was condemned yesterday at an appeal hearing for a mother jailed for murder, for allegedly bolstering "inconsistent" evidence by a child who claimed to have witnessed the killing.

Three judges said they would rule "as quickly as possible" on the case of Margaret Smith, 38, of Hull, convicted of smothering her four-month-old son Keith 10 years ago.

Smith's counsel, Gary Burrell QC, said evidence from Sir Roy, whose role in other child death cases is the subject of a wide-ranging legal review, should not have been admitted by the trial judge.

He told Lord Justice Buxton, Mr Justice Treacy and Mrs Justice Cox at the appeal court that the doctor's statistical calculations about the case were generalised and not specific to Smith. They were therefore "flawed and unsafe".

The consultant's eminence may also have influenced the jury's view of the child witness, said Mr Burrell. The witness, who claimed to have seen Smith hold a pillow over Keith, was eight at the time.

Andrew Campbell QC, opposing the appeal, told the judges said the eyewitness evidence was "compelling, standing on its own" and that the views given by Sir Roy Meadow at the trial were "balanced and not dogmatic".

The appeal follows the high-profile quashing of murder convictions involving three mothers, Sally Clark and Trupti Patel, and Angela Cannings, whose trials all saw a split in medical opinion.

· Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, leading a panel of three appeal judges, yesterday refused permission for another mother's court appeal. The woman's child was taken into care after medical experts gave evidence that her daughter had been the victim of attempted smothering.