It should have been the most joyous moment of their lives, one they would look back on fondly for years to come.

But for Tony Shepherd and his Polish fiancee Viola, the weeks after the birth of their baby were filled with disbelief, followed by desperation and finally outright terror – when a small act of perfectly legal defiance led the NHS to brand them child abusers.

The couple could never have imagined that their refusal to have a simple heel prick test for their son would escalate into a full-blown investigation by midwives, social workers and even the police; or that before their son Charlie was even three weeks old, he would have to endure two intimate internal examinations.

Scared to return: Tony, 42, and his fiancee Viola, 28, with their son Charlie at their Polish home last week

Although completely exonerated, the couple were so appalled by the incident that they left the country.

Today, in an extraordinary interview from their home in Babiak, Poland, the couple reveal the hair-raising sequence of events that drove them to the edge of despair and nearly lost them their child for ever.

They have grave questions about the targets that drive so much health service procedure and the lack of communication between NHS trusts – two issues they believe lie at the heart of their ordeal.

Now they intend to take legal action. ‘We have been dealt with appallingly,’ says Tony, 42. ‘The NHS has robbed us of the joy of having a newborn child.’

After seven years together, Tony, a former stockbroker and owner of a legal services firm, and Viola, 28, an architect, were overjoyed when Charlie was born at Whiston Hospital in Merseyside last June.

Apart from a cephalhematoma – a swelling on the head that is a common birth injury and usually clears up within weeks – Charlie was healthy. But the couple’s problems began when a midwife from Whiston visited the new parents at Tony’s mother’s home in Knowsley.

Recommended: In a heel prick test, blood is taken from the baby’s foot to be screened for conditions including cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease

‘She didn’t phone – she just turned up,’ Tony recalls. ‘She seemed forthright and authoritarian; looking down her nose.’ The midwife told them she would do a heel prick test, in which blood is taken from the baby’s foot to be screened for a range of conditions including cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease. It is not a compulsory procedure, but she seemed insistent.

‘She didn’t ask our permission,’ Tony says. ‘We didn’t know what this test was, so asked her. She said it was something they do which looks for conditions in the baby.

‘I asked what conditions exactly, but she couldn’t tell me.

‘We like to know the reasons for doing tests so I advised her that we would research it and contact her if we wanted it done. She said, “That’s not how it works I’m afraid.” ’

The midwife eventually agreed to leave a number for the Liverpool community midwives’ office and left.

The couple returned to their seven-bedroom home in Aigburth, Liverpool, and were transferred to the care of Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

Seemingly unaware that they had already been visited by a Whiston midwife, one from LWH then phoned and said she would be visiting to do the heel prick test. Tony and Viola calmly told her they were still deciding whether to have the test.

‘That same midwife proceeded to call us 15 times,’ Tony says. ‘I own a legal services company so I know what constitutes harassment.’

At 5.30pm that day the exhausted new parents, who were napping, woke to the sound of the buzzer to their gated property. Someone seemed determined to reach them. ‘It continued for 15 minutes,’ Tony says. He eventually opened the door to find a woman in a midwife’s uniform.

‘She said, “So you are in then?” like I was a naughty schoolboy,’ Tony says.

Turning point: The couple’s problems began when a midwife from Whiston Hospital, pictured, where Charlie was born, visited the new parents at Tony’s mother’s home in Knowsley to perform the heel prick test

The midwife said she was there to do Charlie’s heel prick test. Tony says: ‘She said, “Listen to me, it’s going to be done today whether you like it or not because it has to be done within ten days.” She then put her hand on my chest and tried to push past me into our home. I managed to push her away and close the door. I told her if she didn’t leave, I’d phone the police.’

The midwife in question denies any physical contact.

According to NHS guidelines, the blood spot (heel prick) test is offered to parents of babies in the UK from when they are five days old and up to one year of age.

Although screening is strongly recommended, parents can decline. Tony believes he knows the real reason the midwife was so insistent on getting the test done: targets.

Relocated: The family at their home in Poland, where healthcare is 'light years' ahead of the NHS, according to Mr Shephard

‘We were told by friends that midwives have targets to get the heel prick test done,’ Tony says.

‘There’s immense pressure on midwives, but there’s also the culture that you will just do as you’re told. We naturally question everything.’

According to Public Health England, individual NHS trusts aim to get 95 per cent of newborn babies tested before they are eight days old.

Things got more serious still when the couple were visited by two uniformed police officers.

Tony recalls: ‘The officer explained they had received a report saying we had refused prenatal care – we hadn’t – and now were refusing postnatal care. They wanted to see if Charlie was OK.’

The officers seemed to have a particular suspect in mind – Tony.

‘They looked around a couple of floors and asked Viola, “Is there anybody you know stopping you from having care?” In other words me.’ Later that day it was the turn of Liverpool Social Services.

‘They said they’d had reports from LWH that we were refusing care.

‘They looked in every room and asked lots of questions: how long had we been together; whether Charlie was planned; how and what we fed Charlie; how we changed him – we demonstrated this and they took notes. They asked Viola if she was under duress. They said, “We think your partner may be refusing care in some way because it’s usually your partner who speaks.

‘ ‘‘Are you allowed to speak, are you in any form of danger? Is your partner violent towards you?” ’

Viola says: ‘I’m not a person who sits quietly and lets Tony make the decisions. It was horrible and embarrassing. When they left they said, “If you do want to tell us some time in the future, that’s OK.”'

Tony adds: ‘I don’t have any form of police record. I’m a professional person. To feel that I was being labelled as something I’m not was terrible.’

After admitting there were no care issues, the social workers apologised and left.

But this was not the end of the couple’s problems.

Concerned that the cephalhematoma injury on Charlie’s head had not changed, Tony and Viola asked their health visitor for advice. They were promptly sent to their GP.

Screening: A second midwife from Liverpool Women's Hospital, pictured, also arrived to do the heel test

‘She took Charlie from us, examined his head and referred us urgently to Alder Hey Hospital,’ Tony says. ‘We were extremely worried. On the way to the hospital I was terrified. I felt that because of the midwives, the police and social services visits, this was snowballing. I thought they were going to take Charlie from us.’

Once at the hospital, the couple read through the notes the GP had sent with them and were horrified to discover a full run-down of the visits from the midwives, police and social workers.

Tony’s so-called ‘controlling’, ‘unusual’ and ‘strange’ behaviour had been flagged up, as had his refusal to allow a heel prick test.

Worse was a letter from the couple’s GP who had suggested, in light of their notes, that Charlie’s head lump could be an ‘NAI’ – a non-accidental injury. ‘That meant they were putting us forward for child abuse,’ Tony says. ‘I broke down at that point.’

They asked Viola if she was under duress. They said, 'We think your partner may be refusing care in some way because it’s usually your partner who speaks. Are you allowed to speak, are you in any form of danger? Is your partner violent towards you?' Tony Shephard

Viola adds: ‘We would never hit Charlie. I couldn’t believe we could be in this situation.’

After an agonising hour-long wait, Tony and Viola saw the consultant.

‘We told him we were being victimised and harassed but he wasn’t interested. He examined Charlie from top to toe. He wanted us to change Charlie’s nappy and at that point he examined Charlie’s genitals and anus. My GP friend later told me that this was to see if we had abused him.’

The consultant confirmed that the lump was a simple cephalhematoma and asked why they had refused the heel prick test.

‘I explained that we hadn’t refused it but that no one could explain it to us. The consultant talked it through and we had it done then and there. All we wanted was for someone to tell us what it was for.’

Charlie then endured a second thorough examination, by another consultant. The couple had gone in at 6.30pm and left, exhausted, at 2.30am. ‘We were both extremely upset,’ Tony says.

The following day, the distraught couple, who had been planning to eventually retire to Poland, wrote a list of pros and cons of moving there or staying in Britain.

‘The biggest con of staying in Britain was potentially having our son taken from us or dealing with the NHS on a continual basis,’ Tony says. ‘That tipped the balance.’

The decision made, they put their home up for rent and left for Poland two weeks later.

To those who may dismiss their decision as overly dramatic, Tony insists: ‘It’s not knee-jerk if you’ve been through what we’ve been through. I’m scared to go back to the UK in case something happens.

‘If Charlie fell and broke an arm and needed hospital treatment, would there be a red flag against our name? Are we going to be on a register? Will Charlie be thought of as an abused child? Our GP friend said that once you had a red flag against your name, it never goes.

‘Poland is a third-world country in some ways, but when it comes to care they seem light years ahead of the NHS.

‘The NHS should be a public service, but it’s being made into individual businesses using private subcontractors who have targets that need to be exceeded each year.’

Viola now says that she would be afraid to have another child back in Britain.

John Hemming, MP for Birmingham Yardley and chairman of the Justice For Families campaign group, said he understood the couple’s distress.

‘The system could decide that they are “unwilling to co-operate with professionals” and put their baby up for adoption,’ he added. ‘You can see the health and care sector getting more and more aggressive in the way people are treated.’

Tony and Viola want to share their experience to help others. ‘We can’t be the only ones who have experienced this,’ he says. ‘Parents have rights. Research your rights and don’t be afraid to say no.’

Dianne Brown, director of nursing and midwifery at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, said: ‘The midwife followed Trust guidelines. Neither the midwife nor Liverpool Women’s referred the family directly to social services or the police. LWH believe the midwife behaved in a professional and appropriate manner and have received no formal complaint.’

A spokesman for Whiston Hospital said: ‘The Trust’s community midwife visited for a routine postnatal check two days after Charlie’s birth. No screening tests were carried out during this visit, but it was discussed with the parents and advice given.’