Sally Clark

Sally Clark 1964-2007





 
 
Sally Clark

Case history written in January 2000 by Sally's father, Frank Lockyer

The Evidence from the post mortems

Three days before the trial, Professor Green was brought to London to meet the defence expert, Professor Luthert, the leading retinal surgeon in Europe, at Moorfields Hospital, following which Professor Green admitted that his original diagnosis of baby-shaking was wrong. He made a further statement that his original statement and evidence at the committal should be totally disregarded. But he then put forward the possibility that Harry had been smothered, which had cautious support from Smith and Keeling though Dr Williams not only maintained his orginal diagnosis of baby-shaking but also disagreed that there was any evidence of smothering.

In the case of Christopher the Prosecution was based on blood traces in the lungs and a slight cut inside the lip as evidence of smothering. Despite that, 14 months earlier Dr Williams had found nothing suspicious and had certified "Natural causes." At the trial Professor Green claimed blood traces in the lungs whilst at the committal he had said there was NO blood in the lungs. He explained the discrepancy by saying he had been busy at the time and had not had time to look properly!!

Sally arrives at court with Stephen The Defence attributed the blood staining as being from the nose-bleed suffered a week before and the cut lip to resuscitation in the ambulance, a not unusual mishap. Professor David, the independent consultant, thought the symptoms consistent with a pulmonary ailment and remains convinced that "natural causes" cannot be ruled out. Bruising on the leg was post-mortem and attributable to hand-held resuscitation. This was the medical evidence on which Sally was convicted of abuse of Christopher.

In the case of Harry, as explained, the trauma/retinal injuries at first thought to be shaking was conceded by both sides (except Williams himself) to have been caused during the post-mortem. There was an old fracture of the rib suffered at 1-4 weeks of age, that had healed naturally which, though unexplained, is not unknown in young babies and had caused no discomfort and certainly had nothing to do with death. The Prosecution relied on slight hypoxia as evidence of possible smothering which was not only dismissed by Dr Williams himself but also by the Defence medical team as present in all cot deaths to some degree and which is part of the dying process. That was the medical evidence on which Sally was convicted of abuse of Harry.




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