A WORCESTERSHIRE MP has hit out at doping - saying he fears "a generation of school children have admired cheaters".

Nigel Huddleston, who sits on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, says he is concerned drug cheats around the world have "robbed" British athletes of their due medals.

The Conservative, who represents Mid-Worcestershire, used a parliamentary debate to grill world-leading anti-doping experts following an extraordinary investigation by The Sunday Times which claimed drug abuse was rife among runners between 2001 and 2012.

During the debate MPs heard from the likes of Dr Michael Ashenden, from a body called the 'Science and Industry Against Blood Doping' and David Howman, of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Mr Huddleston said: "You’ve basically told us the wrong medals have been awarded to up to 20 or 30 per cent of people who’ve been suspected of doping at major international events.

"Therefore a generation of school children have admired cheaters, athletes including British athletes have potentially been robbed of their medals and sponsors have been giving money to individual athletes and events in a rather erroneous and deceptive way.

"The thing that I really have a problem with is that these are people we put on a pedestal and admire, and who supposedly instil values of fair play.

"Yet the scale of this we are starting to see now is incredible."

Nicole Sapstead, from the UK Anti-Doping Agency, said she believed "very sophisticated cheats" are making a mockery of the sport, telling him they go to "extraordinary lengths" to avoid detection.

"There are drugs out there that are constantly being modified to avoid detection, the science is behind the sophisticated cheater," she said.

After the debate Mr Huddleston also defended Herefordshire MP Jesse Norman, who was dragged into unwanted national coverage this week after Paula Radcliffe said she was pressurised to release her blood test data.

The marathon world record holder felt compelled to emphatically deny cheating during her career this week, claiming it was bordering on "abuse".

Mr Norman has insisted he did not identify Mrs Radcliffe by using the words "potentially the winners or medallists at the London Marathon, potentially British athletes, are under suspicion for very high levels" of doping, blaming national media for then approaching her.

Mr Huddleston, who was also present in the debate, said: "All the information the committee received was anonymised so we did not have access to any individual athletes' data and therefore no athletes were accused by name by any member of the committee.

"It's disappointing the main headlines around the hearing have been around Mrs Radcliffe - whom no-one actually mentioned."

In August the Sunday Times published a series of articles based on a database of test results from athletes taken between 2001 and 2012, which its experts argued showed abnormal results for a number of endurance runners.