Kathleen Folbigg was convicted over the deaths of her four babies in 2003 in a case that shocked Australia.
Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura each died suddenly between 1989 and 1999, aged between 19 days and 18 months.
The first three were treated as cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) but when Laura died, the authorities looked to Meadow’s Law and arrested the grieving mother.
That now discredited theory held that “one sudden infant death is a tragedy, two is suspicious and three is murder until proved otherwise”.
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She always maintained her innocence.
In 2023 a judicial review found that the babies may have died of a genetic condition and, having served nearly two decades in prison, she was freed.
In August, the now 58-year-old woman, who was once branded “Australia’s worst mother”, was awarded just AUS$2million for 20 years of wrongful imprisonment.
The sum was far less than anyone predicted says award-winning investigative journalist Quentin McDermott. He wrote the book on Meadow’s Law and made the TV documentary that helped raise questions about the safety of her conviction, leading to the review that freed her.
In the first of two episodes of the In The News podcast on what has become Australia’s greatest miscarriage of justice, McDermot explains how the controversial law was used to convict the grieving mother.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
