What happened to Roy Meadow?

The General Medical Council found Roy Meadow—an internationally recognised child abuse specialist who was knighted for his services to paediatrics—guilty of serious professional misconduct over evidence he gave at the trial of the solicitor Sally Clark for the murder of her two sons. …

What did the expert witness Roy Meadow claim when giving evidence about the sudden death of children?

Amongst the prosecution team was Meadow, whose evidence included a soundbite which was to provoke much argument: he testified that the odds against two cot deaths occurring in the same family was 73,000,000:1, a figure which he erroneously obtained by squaring the observed ratio of live-births to cot deaths in affluent …

When was Roy Meadow knighted?

1998
Through the 1990s at least 80 women whose children had suffered apparent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Sids) were convicted of murder, manslaughter or infanticide on the basis of Meadow’s law. Many more, had their children taken into care and in 1998 he was knighted for services to child health.

How could an expert like Roy Meadow get it so terribly wrong?

The headline to an article in the Daily Telegraph in 2005 reads: “How could an expert like Roy Meadow get it so terribly wrong?” It starts: “It is hard to think of a more terrible wrong that Professor Sir Roy Meadow could have inflicted upon Sally Clark short of raping or murdering her.” Sir Roy’s evidence at her trial …

What is cot death syndrome?

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) – sometimes known as “cot death” – is the sudden, unexpected and unexplained death of an apparently healthy baby. In the UK, more than 200 babies die suddenly and unexpectedly every year.

Why was Sally Clark wrongly accused?

A family spokesman stated “Sally was unable to come to terms with the false accusations, based on flawed medical evidence and the failures of the legal system, which debased everything she had been brought up to believe in and which she herself practised.” It was stated in the later inquest that she was diagnosed with …

What happened to Sally Clarks husband?

Mrs Clark had been going through an alcoholic phase and may have been asleep and then woke up to find the baby dead, he said. A post-mortem examination indicated that Christopher died from a lower respiratory tract infection.

What evidence was used in the Angela Cannings case?

Thirteen medical experts brought by the defence gave evidence that Mrs Cannings’ three children could have died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and that Matthew appeared to be have low levels of a haemoglobin that enables the body to fight off bacteria.

How long was Sally Clark in jail for?

three years
Clark was released from prison having served more than three years of her sentence. Journalist Geoffrey Wansell called Clark’s experience “one of the great miscarriages of justice in modern British legal history”.

What happened Sally Clarke?

Sally Clark, the mother who “never recovered” from being wrongly convicted of killing her two children, died accidentally as a result of acute alcohol intoxication, a coroner ruled today. Mrs Clark had been found by her cleaner, in bed and not breathing, in March this year.

Who is Roy Meadow and what did he do?

News that Professor Sir Roy Meadow, who is to face a General Medical Council hearing into his conduct next month, is continuing to influence medical thinking about child abuse issues has sparked outrage among families wrongly accused of killing their children on the strength of his evidence.

Why was Sir Roy Meadow struck off the medical register?

Senior paediatrician Professor Sir Roy Meadow, whose expert evidence helped jail Sally Clark, Angela Cannings and other women who were later cleared of murdering their children, has today been struck off the medical register by a disciplinary tribunal. David Batty explains the history of the case

Where did Roy Meadow go to medical school?

Dr. Roy Meadow was born in 1933 in Wigan, Lancashire, completed his medical education in Oxford University and practiced as a general pediatrician in Banbury. In 1970 he became a senior lecturer at Leeds University.

When did Roy Meadow retire from the University of Leeds?

Meadow was appointed professor of paediatrics and child health at the University of Leeds in 1980, based at St James’s University Hospital, having previously been a Senior Lecturer in the same department. He retired with the title Emeritus Professor in 1998.