Donna Anthony
Encyclopedia
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 high-profile cases where evidence given by the controversial paediatrician Professor Sir Roy Meadow
led to convictions of mothers who reported more than one cot death.
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. She made an unsuccessful appeal against her conviction in 2000.
In January 2003, the conviction of Sally Clark
— jailed for life for the murder of her two sons — was quashed. In June that year, Trupti Patel
was acquitted of murdering her babies. In December, Angela Cannings
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
(though he was reinstated on appeal). Following the overturning of Angela Cannings's conviction, twenty-eight cases, including that of Donna Anthony, were referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission
(CCRC), and Anthony was freed in April 2005.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
woman from Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
who was jailed in 1998 after being convicted of the murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
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 Professor Sir Roy Meadow
Roy Meadow
Sir Samuel Roy Meadow is a British paediatrician and professor, who rose to initial fame for his 1977 academic paper on the now controversial Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy and his crusade against parents who, he believes, wilfully harm or kill their children. He was knighted for these works...
led to convictions of mothers who reported more than one cot death.
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. She made an unsuccessful appeal against her conviction in 2000.
In January 2003, the conviction of Sally Clark
Sally Clark
Sally Clark was a British solicitor who became the victim of an infamous miscarriage of justice when she was wrongly convicted of the murder of two of her sons in 1999...
— jailed for life for the murder of her two sons — was quashed. In June that year, Trupti Patel
Trupti Patel
Trupti Patel is a qualified pharmacist from Berkshire, England, who was acquitted in 2003 of murdering three of her children, Amar , Jamie , and Mia ....
was acquitted of murdering her babies. In December, Angela Cannings
Angela Cannings
Angela Cannings was wrongfully convicted in the UK in 2002 of 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...
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
General Medical Council
The General Medical Council registers and regulates doctors practising in the United Kingdom. It has the power to revoke or restrict a doctor's registration if it deems them unfit to practise...
(though he was reinstated on appeal). Following the overturning of Angela Cannings's conviction, twenty-eight cases, including that of Donna Anthony, were referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission
Criminal Cases Review Commission
The Criminal Cases Review Commission is an non-departmental public body set up following the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice itself a continuation of the May Inquiry. It aims to investigate possible miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
(CCRC), and Anthony was freed in April 2005.