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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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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: |
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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: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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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 |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org