Subject: The media expose more of the checkered career of Sir Roy Meadow
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New hope for Julie
Jan 30 2003
By Steve Swingler, Evening Mail
A Birmingham mum convicted of killing her two children was today given fresh
hope of clearing her name following the release of cot-death mother Sally Clark.
It emerged that child abuse expert Professor Roy Meadow - whose evidence in the
Clark case was today hanging in tatters - also helped convict Aston mum Julie
Ferris. His evidence was discredited at the Court of Appeal yesterday before Mrs
Clark walked free from court after her three year ordeal behind bars.
The successful appeal has now cast doubt on the reliability on the evidence Prof
Meadow gave at 32-year-old Julie's case, and that of three other Midland
mothers.
Julie's family has been fighting to clear her name since her release on bail
last May pending a fresh hearing into her case. Their campaign was today backed
by the Shadow Health Minister Caroline Spelman (Con, Meriden).
"I have considered cases dealt with by Prof Meadow. I will now write to the
families concerned to see if they want their cases reopened in light of the
ruling," she said.
Julie had been detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act in June 2000
after being convicted of smothering daughter Hayley and son Brandon.
Prof Meadow said in evidence there were clear 'markers' of child abuse in the
deaths of nine-month-old Hayley, aged nine months, who died in 1993, and
Brandon, eight months, who died in 1997.
But because the court ruled she had a mental age of six, Julie, from Charles
Road in Aston, was not allowed to enter a plea or go into the witness box to
defend herself.
She always denied the manslaughter charges and her supporters claim the babies
could have been victims of the little-known condition Sudden Unexpected Death in
Epilepsy.
Julie's fight for justice could now receive the personal backing of Mrs Clark
who today vowed to fight for others still suffering a similar fate.
Mrs Clark, a solicitor, said her ordeal had been a "living hell" after she was
wrongly jailed for killing her two babies. The Court of Appeal ruled her
convictions for murdering the babies were unsafe.
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Doubts over dead baby cases
Jan 30 2003
By Paula Marsh, Evening Mail
The shocking appeal trial of Sally Clark is the latest in a string of cases to
cast doubt on the Black dence of respected Professor Roy Meadow.
Reports by the top child abuse expert have led to at least four Birmingham
mothers being branded baby killers.
But while three had their children taken away by social services, they have each
maintained their complete innocence.
Jennifer Attwood, 32, cleared her name after a post-mortem examination proved
her nine-month-old baby Emma haddied at Selly Oak hospital from polymyositis, a
rare muscle-destroying disease in February 1992.
Experts including Prof Meadow initially claimed Mrs Attwood had Muchausen
Syndrome by Proxy - a condition in which attention-seeking mums harm their
babies.
While being interviewed by police her two other children were taken into care
but returned after 72 hours when she and her husband Christopher protested.
Mrs Attwood was only exonerated following an inquest held four months after her
daughter's death.
In another shocking case, Karen Haynes, aged 35, and her husband Mark, had their
second child whisked away by social workers, a year after their first baby died.
The couple were left devastated when their four-month-old son Michael died in
1999.
Even though Michael had been prescribed a controversial drug since linked to 136
deaths nationwide, medical experts suspected Karen had smothered Michael.
Eighteen months ago the couple lost their fight to stop Emma from being adopted
when social services won a High Court freeing order.
Yet no criminal investigation has ever been held and a full inquest has still
not taken place.
In a third case involving Prof Meadow, Birmingham social services took away the
remaining son and daughter of a woman who lost two children to cot death.
Ann Roberts still has limited access to her three-year-old son and nine-year-old
daughter even though police were never called to investigate the deaths of her
daughters in 1993 and 1997.
Prof Meadow made his name when he became the first person to highlight the
condition Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy in 1977.
He claimed the condition led to sufferers inducing illness in children, usually
their own.
The 69-year-old professor also hit the headlines in the 1990s with a
controversial study into cot deaths.
He claimed that of 81 cases of children killed by their parents, 49 had
originally been certified as cot deaths.