A babysitter found guilty of murdering her neighbour's two-year-old son by banging his head against a banister has won an appeal against her conviction.

Suzanne Holdsworth's lawyers had argued that new evidence showed she was the victim of a miscarriage of justice over the death of Kyle Fisher.

On Thursday the Court of Appeal agreed and the Iraqi students seized near Baquba ...
AB Volvo's Iraq kickbacks penalty ...
Czech Julinek-Rath dispute ends in out-of-court settlement ... 37-year-old now faces a retrial over the death of Kyle.

He died at her home in Millpool Close, Hartlepool, in 2005.

Ms Holdsworth's family in a statement said they were "ecstatic at today's news" and described it as "wonderful" .

They said they were "looking forward to the re-trial" which they hoped would "prove this case to be a miscarriage of justice".

Ms Holdsworth was accused of having "snapped" while looking after the child whose 19-year-old mother was on a night out.

She consistently denied injuring the child and claimed he had suffered a fit as they sat watching television.

Lord Justice Toulson, quashing the conviction, said that having evaluated the oral evidence "we do not consider that we can safely dismiss the medical scenario advanced on the applicant's behalf".

A jury at Teesside Crown Court found Ms Holdsworth guilty of murder in 2005.

She was jailed for life and told she must serve at least 10 years before she could apply for release on parole.

At Thursday's hearing, Lord Toulson said it was the court's view that if the fresh medical evidence had been given at trial it might reasonably have affected the jury's decision to convict.

He said the conviction "must be judged unsafe".

He added: "Special caution is also needed where expert opinion evidence is not just relied upon as additional material to support a prosecution but is fundamental to it."

Ms Holdsworth's solicitor Campbell Malone said she was "overwhelmed with emotion" at the court's decision.

A decision will be made later as to whether or not she can be freed on bail until the retrial.

(BBC)

<< Back