A Spanish doctor who is the first person to be put on trial in connection with a historic stolen babies scandal has denied any knowledge of a child-trafficking network centred around the Madrid clinic where he was the director.

Dr Eduardo Vela, an 85-year-old gynaecologist, told a court in Madrid that he could not remember the exact nature of his duties at the San Ramón clinic, which he ran for 20 years up to 1982.

As the case opened, a group of around 100 protesters gathered outside the court, demanding justice for the stolen babies and duped mothers.

But the case began with Dr Vela denying accusations of having given Inés Madrigal to her adoptive parents as a new-born baby girl in 1969, using falsified birth papers that stated she was their biological daughter.

“I didn’t give any baby to anyone,” the gynaecologist mumbled when asked if he had met Inés Pérez, Ms Madrigal’s adoptive mother, whose testimony to an investigating judge was crucial in bringing the ground-breaking case to trial.

Before her death in 2016, Pérez said that Dr Vela had given her a baby girl as “a gift” after showing her how to feign pregnancy by putting cushions under her clothes.