Angela Cannings outside the Palace of Westminster.
Angela Cannings was unjustly convicted in England in 2002 for the murder of her seven-week-old son, Jason, who died in 1991, and for the murder of her 18-week-old son Matthew, who died in 1999. Her first baby, Gemma died of cot death in 1989, she was 13 weeks old. Nevertheless, Angela was never prosecuted for Gemma's death.
Her conviction (for which she was imprisoned for life) was based on the allegation that Angela had stifled her children, but was declared invalid by the appeal on 10 December 2003. Cannings was convicted following the interference of Professor Sir Roy Meadow, a controversial pediatrician.
Canning's case was re-examined after the BBC had made a "Real Story" documentary on the subject. The investigation revealed that several cases of cradle death had occurred in the family of her father. Professor Michael Patton, a geneticist at St George's Hospital Medical School, told the BBC that a hereditary genetic aberration was a plausible explanation for the various cases of cradle death in the family. Roy Meadow
Witness expert Sir Roy Meadow was later temporarily suspended from the General Medical Council, which was partly due to evidence in Canning's lawsuit. Meadow based his calculations on the probability of a second case of crash death on the assumption that the probability was as great as in the first case. However, the probability of a second case is much greater than in the first case. He also assumed that the children were in good health for the sake of their death, which meant that carnival death was unlikely. However, this was contrary to the opinion of other specialists. Cannings later said she believed he earned a high penalty for his testimony in her case and that of others. Other cases
The Cannings release and other important issues resulted in a reopening of 297 other cases where the conviction was based on the opinion of a witness expert. On February 14, 2006, Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General announced that three of these cases had to be reassessed, but the majority gave no reason for doubt. Also see
wiki
