A mother-to-be inspired her electronic engineer husband, based at Newcastle University, to devise a new low-cost baby scanner which could save hundreds of thousands of lives.

Sonar expert Jeff Neasham used cheap components to make a hand-held scanner which can plug into a laptop and produce pictures of the unborn child on the computer screen.

The Newcastle University lecturer’s device could be manufactured for under €50 compared with the ultrasound machines in UK hospitals which cost €25,000 to €125,000.

That means the scanners – devised by Mr Neasham and research associate Dave Graham – would be much more affordable for developing countries. The 39-year-old father-of-two – inspired when his wife Zoe was expecting their first daughter, who is now seven – said his images could easily show if a baby was in the breach position.

He said: “The idea came from my own experiences sat looking at the pictures of our unborn child.

“It was my wife’s idea – she suggested we could apply what we knew to make them more affordable and make a low-cost system for lots of people around the world.

“We are not at the stage where we can completely match the image quality of a really high-end scanner but we are getting closer and closer.”

The technology could have a major life-saving effect as UN figures show 250,000 women die every year from complications during pregnancy or child birth.

Many deaths are avoidable, but for a lack of equipment.