Appeal court to hear case of solicitor jailed for killing babies

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   Appeal court to hear case of solicitor jailed for killing babies

Bob Woffinden
Wednesday July 3, 2002
The Guardian

Detailed new evidence revealed today by the Guardian may help to free a solicitor serving a life sentence for killing her babies.

Sally Clark, a corporate lawyer, has had her case referred to the court of appeal by the criminal cases review commission, which reviews potential miscarriages of justice.

Clark was jailed for the murder of her sons, Christopher and Harry, at Chester crown court in November 1999. An appeal was later dismissed.

But she has always denied smothering Christopher, aged 11 weeks, in December 1996, and smothering or shaking eight-week-old Harry to death a year later. Medical test results, uncovered recently by her husband, Steve, but never shown to the defence at the trial, form the basis of the successful submission to the CCRC.

While blood tests on Christopher were produced by the defence to show he could have died of a rare lung disease, the jury did not see microbiology tests carried out on Harry by Alan Williams, a pathologist. The reports appear to show that Harry could have died from a staphylococcal infection.

Clark, 37, was told the news by her solicitor at Bullwood Hall prison in Essex yesterday.

Her husband said he was delighted. "I have always known that Sally is innocent - now we appear to have proved it," he said. "But when none of the medical experts are able to say how a baby has died, it should not be for the bereaved parents to have to prove a natural cause in order to avoid being convicted of murder."

A new appeal could be heard by the end of the year and Mr Clark said the case raised questions about other cases where mothers have been convicted of murdering their babies: "We are also anxious that there should be changes in the way in which the legal system treats the unexplained deaths of babies _ to ensure that other innocent, bereaved mothers and their families are not treated as shamefully as Sally and her family have been."

 

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