A mother who scoured the Internet in a quest for evidence to win compensation for her severely brain-damaged son yesterday suffered defeat at the Court of Appeal.

Appeal Court judges paid tribute to Lesley Jones, 50, for the love and fighting spirit that drove her to succeed in finding a doctor involved in the delivery of her son, Wayne, at South Shields General Hospital, in September 1975.

Efforts to contact Dr Naima Panow had failed so Mrs Jones launched an Internet search, and tracked down the retired obstetrician in Oregon, US.

But Lord Justice Robert Walker ruled that 65-year-old Dr Panow's evidence, so long after the event, was of little value and wholly inconclusive.

In May 1999, Mr Recorder Benjamin Nolan, QC, ruled that there has been a misdiagnosis, omissions and failures surrounding the breech birth of Wayne, who suffered oxygen starvation and was left permanently physically and mentally disabled.

But, refusing to award damages against South Tyneside Health Authority he ruled the negligence of medical staff had not caused Wayne's injuries.

Yesterday, Lord Justice Walker, sitting in London with Lord Justice Keene and Sir Christopher Slade, dismissed the appeal.