Bill Bache
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Angela Cannings was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to
life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...
in the UK in 2002 for the murder of her seven-week-old son, Jason, who died in 1991, and of her 18-week-old son Matthew, who died in 1999. Her first child, Gemma, died of
sudden infant death syndrome Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), sometimes known as cot death or crib death, is the sudden unexplained death of a child of less than one year of age. Diagnosis requires that the death remain unexplained even after a thorough autopsy and ...
(SIDS) in 1989 at the age of 13 weeks, although she was never charged in connection with Gemma's death. Her conviction was based on claims that she had smothered the children, but was overturned as unsafe by the
Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...
on 10 December 2003. Cannings was convicted after the testimony of Professor Sir
Roy Meadow Sir Samuel Roy Meadow (born 9 June 1933) is a British retired paediatrician who facilitated several wrongful convictions of mothers for murdering their babies. He was awarded the Donald Paterson prize of the British Paediatric Association in 1 ...
, a paediatrician who was later struck off, then reinstated, by the General Medical Council. Another expert witness for the prosecution was neonatologist Martin Ward Platt. Her defence solicitor was Bill Bache. The Cannings case was re-examined after a
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
"Real Story" investigation showed that her paternal great-grandmother had suffered one sudden infant death and her paternal grandmother two. Professor Michael Patton, a clinical geneticist at St George's Hospital Medical School, told the BBC that a genetic inheritance was the most likely explanation for the cot deaths in the family."Doubts case over baby deaths case"
''BBC News''. 2 November 2003.


Involvement of Roy Meadow

Expert witness Professor Sir
Roy Meadow Sir Samuel Roy Meadow (born 9 June 1933) is a British retired paediatrician who facilitated several wrongful convictions of mothers for murdering their babies. He was awarded the Donald Paterson prize of the British Paediatric Association in 1 ...
was later struck off the
General Medical Council The General Medical Council (GMC) is a public body that maintains the official register of physician, medical practitioners within the United Kingdom. Its chief responsibility is to "protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the pu ...
register partly as a result of his evidence at the Cannings trial. Meadow based his calculations on the likelihood of a second crib death being the same as the likelihood of a first, whereas in households where one crib death has taken place, the
probability Probability is a branch of mathematics and statistics concerning events and numerical descriptions of how likely they are to occur. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1; the larger the probability, the more likely an e ...
of another is greatly increased. He also asserted crib death implausible (which was contrary to the opinion of other specialists). Cannings later said Meadow should be "severely punished" for his testimony in her case and others. Meadow was later reinstated to the GMC on appeal, a judge ruling that his errors did not amount to serious professional misconduct.


Other cases

The quashing of Cannings' conviction and other high-profile cases resulted in a review of 297 other cases where conviction relied on expert witness opinion. On 14 February 2006, Lord Goldsmith, the
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
, announced that three of these cases needed to be reconsidered by the courts.


In popular culture

The trial of Angela Cannings was dramatised in the 2005 BBC film, '' Cherished'', starring
Sarah Lancashire Sarah-Jane Abigail Lancashire (born 10 October 1964) is an English actress. Known for her work in television and theatre, she has received numerous accolades over a career spanning four decades, including three British Academy Television Award ...
as Angela and
Timothy Spall Timothy Leonard Spall ( ; born 27 February 1957) is an English actor. He gained recognition for his character actor roles on stage and screen. In 2000, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. S ...
as Terry Cannings.


See also

* Maxine Robinson – UK serial killer mother exposed, with the assistance of Meadow, around the same time as Cannings and others in similar cases were freed, leading the judge to comment that the case was "a timely reminder that not all mothers in prison for killing their children are the victims of miscarriages of justice" *
Factitious disorder imposed on another Factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA), also known as fabricated or induced illness by carers (FII), medical child abuse and originally named Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSbP) after Munchausen syndrome, is a mental health disorder in ...
("Munchausen syndrome by proxy") *
Donna Anthony Donna Anthony is a British woman from Somerset who was jailed in 1998 after being convicted of the murder of her two babies. She was cleared and freed after having spent more than six years in prison. She was one of several women at the centre of ...
*
Sally Clark Sally Clark (née Lockyer, 15 August 1964 – 15 March 2007) was an English solicitor who, in November 1999, became the victim of a miscarriage of justice when she was found guilty of the murder of her two infant sons. Clark's first son died in ...
*
Sudden infant death syndrome Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), sometimes known as cot death or crib death, is the sudden unexplained death of a child of less than one year of age. Diagnosis requires that the death remain unexplained even after a thorough autopsy and ...
* Trupti Patel


Notes


Further reading

*Cannings, Angela. ''Against All Odds: The Angela Cannings Story'', Little, Brown Book Group, 2006. *Sweeney, John
"In the shadows of justice"
''The Guardian'', 19 June 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cannings, Angela Overturned convictions in the United Kingdom Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British people acquitted of murder British people wrongfully convicted of murder