Group to review babies' deaths

England's attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, last week announced that he would be setting up a high level group to review the deaths of babies that involved Dr Alan Williams, a forensic pathologist who gave evidence for the prosecution in the case of Sally Clark, who was convicted but cleared after a second appeal of killing her two baby sons. (8 February, p 304) Dr Williams failed to disclose important results from microbiology tests on Mrs Clark's second son, Harry. The group, which will include representatives from the Crown Prosecution Service, police, and Home Office, will identify cases where the defendant was convicted after important evidence by Dr Williams. An in depth review will be carried out into these cases. Guidance has been sent to all chief crown prosecutors asking them to identify all cases, current and future, in which either Dr Williams or the retired consultant paediatrician Professor Roy Meadow were or are witnesses. Both were criticised by the Court of Appeal when Mrs Clark's conviction was quashed. Professor Meadow also gave evidence in the trial of Trupti Patel, who was cleared last month of killing her three babies. Prosecutors have been told to send to defence lawyers in current or future cases in which either man is a witness a copy of the appeal court judgement in the Clark case. They have also been told to draw their attention to sections of the judgement criticising the evidence of the two experts. In a further move to try to avoid future miscarriages of justice in cases of babies' deaths, the Home Office's pathology advisory board is planning to issue new codes of practice and procedure for pathologists. The codes will place a duty on pathologists to disclose all test results. Lord Goldsmith said the Crown Prosecution Service, which he oversees, would continually review cases to ensure that the two tests for bringing a prosecution were met—that prosecution would be in the public interest and that there was sufficient admissible evidence for a realistic prospect of obtaining a conviction. He added in a parliamentary answer: "In its published judgment, the Court of Appeal raised no criticism of the Crown Prosecution Service for its handling of the prosecution of Sally Clark, neither did the judge criticise the CPS for bringing the prosecution in respect of Trupti Patel." Professor Meadow, aged 70, had told Mrs Clark's first appeal in 2000 that two cot deaths in an affluent non-smoking family like the Clarks' were a "one in 73 million chance." Lord Justice Kay said the statistic "should never have been advanced to a jury."