New facts raise more doubt: did Sally really kill her babies?

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New facts raise more doubt: did Sally really kill her babies?

By Sweeney

02 July 2002

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/story.jsp?story=311129

Strong evidence that may point to the innocence of Sally , the

solicitor serving a life sentence for killing her babies, was not disclosed

in court during her infamous " 73 million to one " double murder trial.

The development highlights growing fears of a reversal of the presumption of

innocence - a cornerstone of the English legal system - in cases where

mothers are accused of killing their babies.

's husband, Steve, said: " We have discovered new medical evidence which

wasn't disclosed to the defence at the time of the trial which appears to

reveal a natural cause of death for one of our babies. "

Tests were carried out on the blood and tissue of the second baby to die,

Harry, on samples taken by a Home Office pathologist, Dr Alan . The

report containing the results - compiled in January 1998, a few days after

Harry died - was not used in the trial, held in October 1999.

Mr tells BBC Radio 4's File on Four programme, to be broadcast

tonight: " We found about it almost by accident really, hidden away in a huge

pile of papers that we finally managed to extract from Macclesfield Hospital

late last year after almost two years of asking for them, and the scary

thing is that it could still be there and no one would know. "

The report is believed to provide compelling evidence that Harry died a

natural death. If the conviction for Harry's murder was undermined, it would

automatically raise doubts about 's conviction for the murder of her

first son, .

The Criminal Cases Review Commission is looking at the case, and the

family expects it to be returned to the Court of Appeal.

Mr remains astonished that the crucial material was not seen by the

defence: " The report was not disclosed to the defence at the time of the

trial, even when the jury asked a specific question about that area, " he

said.

At 's trial in October 1999 the results of the tests Dr

commissioned on baby Harry were not disclosed to the court.

Mr said: " When I saw the report I didn't know what its significance

was, but we passed it to some of the doctors who have been helping us behind

the scenes and they almost said 'eureka!'. We now have statements from two

eminent British pathologists in this field, stating that the second baby

died from natural causes.

" I have always known that my wife was innocent and have been determined to

find justice for her. After more than four years of struggle, I hope that

the system will now move quickly to give it to us.

" Sally's first reaction, when I told her, was not 'thank goodness, I'm

coming home', but to burst into tears and then ask, 'Harry didn't suffer,

did he?'. As is so typical of the kindest and gentlest person I have ever

known, her first thought was not for herself, but for her baby.

" We still have not been able to grieve properly for our little boys, and

should never have been put in this appalling situation where it is we who

have had to find out the true cause of death. "

Mr added that Dr should not have been relied upon because he

was not a paediatric pathologist and he pointed out that the prosecution

admitted a fundamental error was made by both Dr and another

pathologist in one of the post-mortem examinations. In addition, Dr

was found to have made mistakes in another case.

The vital question now is why evidence that suggested was innocent was

never put to the jury. Dr has declined to comment.

Professor Sir Roy Meadow, the star witness for the prosecution, testified

that the two deaths were unnatural. He told the jury that there was a " one

in 73 million chance " that both deaths had occurred naturally.

Sir Roy added that there were specific features in the case which made the

likelihood of innocent death even more remote, saying " it could only happen

once every 100 years " .

The " 73 million to one " figure was a statistical smoking gun. In one

soundbite the jury had a compelling case against Sally . The jury, some

of whom were openly weeping, convicted her by a majority of 10-2, after two

days of deliberations.

But the statistic was grossly inaccurate. It is more, rather than less,

likely that a mother who has suffered one cot death will suffer another. The

true odds were not one in 73 million but one in 60.

Despite that, the Court of Appeal ruled that the mistake did not have a

significant impact on the jury's decision.

The campaign to establish 's innocence was bolstered when the

Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal made the unprecedented decision not to

strike her off the Law Society roll, signalling that many in the legal world

were not convinced of the safety of her conviction.

For that tribunal she had prepared a video, in which she said of her ordeal:

" I now suffer the minute-by-minute torture of life imprisonment, knowing, as

I accept only I could know, that I did not harm my little boys and did

nothing but love them. "

Had the jury known about the test results that suggested Harry died of

natural causes, they might not have convicted her. Other prisoners are

notoriously cruel to child killers, and Mrs suffered threats and some

violence when she was first locked up at Styal prison near Manchester.

Mr said: " It is virtually impossible for innocent mothers who have

endured cot deaths to defend themselves from the charge of murder.

" The first question to my wife by the prosecution at the trial was: 'You

were never cut out to be a mother, were you?' The burden of proof has been

reversed in these cases. Mothers who have suffered cot death are assumed to

be guilty until they can prove they are innocent.

" It has taken us, with all our resources and support, nearly three years to

prove Sally's innocence; yet still she is in prison, separated from me and

our surviving child, who badly needs his mummy. "

There are also grave concerns about the safety of the conviction of

Cannings, who, like Sally , was found guilty of double murder and

sentenced to life imprisonment in April this year. Sir Roy Meadow's

published view in such cases is that, unless proven otherwise, one cot death

is a tragedy, two is suspicious and three should be seen as murder. Cannings

suffered two cot deaths - and then her third baby died.

At her trial at Winchester Crown Court, one of the main prosecution

witnesses, who told the jury that the deaths were not natural, was Sir Roy.

Cannings continues to protest her innocence.

Terry Cannings, who, like Mr , is convinced his wife is innocent, said:

" was pronounced dead on 12 November 1999. The police officer knelt

down, held 's hand and said: 'I'm sorry but I've got to arrest you on

the suspicion of three deaths - Gemma, and .' It was like she

was shot in the kneecaps. "

Dr Drucker is a microbiologist at the University of Manchester. A

colleague of his performed tests on 's body, which showed that the

baby's immune system was not working properly.

Dr Drucker said: " That baby had so few antibodies of an entire class of

antibody that it was just about almost below the limit of detection of the

tests that were being used. And I remember commenting to someone at the time

if I'd had so little antibody, I would expect to be dead or very seriously

ill.

" I wasn't a jury member, so I don't know what went through their heads, but

I don't know how they could ignore a finding that was so important. "

The latest discoveries in genetic science, Dr Drucker said, suggested that

Sir Roy's view on multiple cot deaths does not make scientific sense.

With colleagues at Manchester University, he has discovered what they

believe to be a " cot death gene " . In layman's terms, the cot death gene is a

faulty switch - it fails to switch on the baby's defence system against

killer bugs. There is a gap between the mother's defence system fading out

as the baby grows to around eight weeks old and the baby's own defences

kicking in. And it is through that gap that a bug or infection can strike.

Sir Roy does not agree. " There is no evidence that cot deaths run in

families, but there is plenty of evidence that child abuse does, " he has

said.

File On Four is on BBC Radio 4 at 8pm tonight.

******

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=311448

Baby deaths case sent to appeal

By Sweeney and Verkaik

03 July 2002

A solicitor serving a life sentence for killing her two babies is to have

her case sent back to the Court of Appeal after her husband uncovered

evidence that throws the reliability of her conviction into doubt.

Sally has always denied smothering her two sons, , aged 11

weeks, and Harry, eight weeks, claiming they both suffered cot deaths. But

in November 1999 she was found guilty of their murder at Chester Crown Court.

Yesterday The Independent reported that strong doubts remained over the

safety of the conviction, which was imposed after the jury was told there

was a " one in 73 million chance " that both deaths, a year apart, had had

natural causes.

Her husband, Steve, 37, who has always believed his wife is the victim of a

gross miscarriage of justice, has led a campaign to have the conviction

quashed.

Yesterday the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) confirmed that it had

been made aware of fresh evidence and was sending the case back to the

Court of Appeal for a second time. 's first appeal failed shortly

after her trial.

The evidence consists of medical tests on the couple's second child, Harry,

which were not disclosed to the defence. Blood and tissue samples, taken by

a Home Office pathologist, Dr Alan , showed Harry may have died

from natural causes.

Last night Mr , also a solicitor, told BBC Radio 4's File On Four that

he was delighted that the CCRC had seen " the strength " of the fresh

evidence, which he said provided a powerful new ground for appeal.

" I have always known that my wife was innocent and have been determined to

find justice for her, " he said. " After over four years of struggle against

these false accusations, I hope that the system will now move quickly to

give it to us. "

The evidence could also have an impact on the case of Cannings, who,

like , was found guilty of killing two of her babies and sentenced to

life imprisonment in April this year. Her appeal will be heard later in the

year.

The tests, on eight swabs taken at Harry's post-mortem examination, were

commissioned by Dr . The laboratory at Macclesfield Hospital,

Cheshire, wrote a report on its results in January 1998, a few days after

Harry's death. It revealed that it had found lethal levels of the bacterial

infection staphylococcal aureus in his body.

Staph. aureus is a common bacterium, often to be found in the nose and

throat as a result of post-mortem contamination. But the critical finding

was that the infection in the cerebrospinal fluid had traces of polymorphs

– showing that Harry was infected while alive.

Medical experts who have seen the evidence have told the s that the

most likely cause of death was " overwhelming staph. aureus infection " and

that " no other cause of death was sustainable " .

The microbiology lab report was found in 1,000 pages of medical records

obtained by the defence team two years after the conviction.

Sir Roy Meadow, a witness for the prosecution, told the jury that the two

deaths were unnatural and that there was a " one in 73 million chance " that

both deaths happened naturally. He added that " it could only happen once

every 100 years " .

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