Donna Anthony is a British woman from

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

who was jailed in 1998 after being convicted of the

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

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 high-profile cases where evidence given by the controversial

paediatrician Pediatrics (American and British English differences, also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, Adolescence, adolescents, and young adults. In the United King ...

Professor Sir Roy Meadow led to convictions of mothers who reported more than one

cot death Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) 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 detailed death scene investigation. SIDS usual ...

. Anthony's daughter died in February 1996, at the age of eleven months. Her four-month-old son died in March 1997. In November 1998, twenty-five-year-old Anthony was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, following a trial in which it was suggested that she had smothered her son in order to get sympathy from her estranged husband.Mother jailed for killing her babies
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

'', November 17, 1998. She made an unsuccessful appeal against her conviction in 2000. In January 2003, the conviction of

Sally Clark Sally Clark (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 December 1996 wit ...

— jailed for life for the murder of her two sons — was quashed. In June that year,

Trupti Patel Trupti Patel is a qualified pharmacist from Maidenhead in Berkshire, England, who was acquitted in 2003 of murdering three of her children, Amar (5 September 1997 – 10 December 1997), Jamie (21 June 1999 – 6 July 1999), and Mia (14 ...

was acquitted of murdering her babies. In December,

Angela Cannings Angela Cannings was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment 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, die ...

was cleared after spending more than a year in prison for the murder of her sons. The prosecution in all four cases had relied on evidence supplied by Sir Roy Meadow, who said that the chances of two babies dying of natural causes within the same family were one in 73 million. Meadow's evidence was later discredited, and he was subsequently struck off by the

General Medical Council The General Medical Council (GMC) is a public body that maintains the official register of medical practitioners within the United Kingdom. Its chief responsibility is to "protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the public" by c ...

(though he was reinstated on appeal).Sir Roy Meadow struck off by GMC
''

'' July 15, 2005.Sally Clark doctor wins GMC case
''

'' February 17, 2006. Following the overturning of Angela Cannings's conviction, twenty-eight cases, including that of Donna Anthony, were referred to the

Criminal Cases Review Commission The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is the statutory body responsible for investigating alleged miscarriages of justice in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It was established by Section 8 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 and bega ...

(CCRC), and Anthony was freed in April 2005.Anthony latest mother to be freed
''

'' April 11, 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, Donna Overturned convictions in the United Kingdom Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People acquitted of murder People wrongfully convicted of murder

See also

References