Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

Go to Database Search Page

Go to  Database Index Page

Donna Anthony

 

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

7

Year Crime:

1996

Year Convicted:

1998

Year Cleared:

2005

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

United Kingdom

County or Region of Crime:

England

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

"Donna Anthony was wrongly convicted in 1998 of murdering two of her children by smothering them. Donna Anthony's 11-month-old daughter Jordan died in February 1996 and 4-month-old son Michael died 13 months later in March 1997. The jury relied on the prosecution's expert witness - Sir Roy Meadows, who is the same "expert" prosecutors relied on to obtain the convictions of Sally Clark, Angela Cannings and Trupti Patel, all of who were wrongly convicted in the United Kingdom of murdering their children who actually died of natural causes. In 2003 Anthony submitted an application to the Criminal Case Review Commission (CCRC) for review of his conviction as a miscarriage of justice. Anthony's case was referred by the CCRC on 2/02/2005 to the England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division). On 4/11/2005 the appeals court quashed Donna Anthony's convictions."

Conviction Caused By:

Erroneous expert testimony

Innocence Proved By:

"UK's Court of Appeals quashed conviction on April 11, 2005."

Defendant Aided By:

"Criminal Case Review Commission (England, Wales, and Northern Ireland)"

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

24

Age When Released:

31

Sex:

Female

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Mothers murder convictions quashed, Staff and Agencies, The Guardian, April 11, 2005"

Information Location 1:

"http://www.guardian.co.uk/child/story/0,,1457161,00.html"

Information Source 2:

"Mother Freed After Seven Years In Jail For Child Killings, Clare Dyer (Legal Editor), The Guardian (UK), April 12, 2005"

Information Location 2:

"http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1457464,00.html"

Information Source 3:

"The Most Bullied Woman in Prison, Robert Stansfield (staff), The Mirror,(UK), April 16, 2005"

Information Location 3:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/tm_objectid=15404247&method=full&siteid=50143&headline=the-most-bullied-woman-in-prison-name_page.html

Information Source 4:

"Donna Anthony, Criminal Case Review Commission referred cases database (last viewed Feb. 1, 2014)"

Information Location 4:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/about/criminal-cases-review-commission/case-library/2

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case:

Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org

Hosted on forejustice.org and mirrored on justicedenied.org .