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!!
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.