Woman accused of murdering baby has conviction overturned

A mother jailed for murdering her eight-week-old son and attempting to murder his toddler sister is to have her convictions quashed, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

The woman, whose identity is protected by an anonymity order, accepted having stabbed the children, but denied the charges.

On Friday, senior judges held that the guilty verdicts over the double stabbing back in July 2021 were unsafe.

No further details about their decision can be published at this stage for legal reasons.

Both the prosecution and defence representatives remain in dispute on any possible retrial.

The woman was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in June 2023, following a jury trial at Belfast Crown Court.

She had been found guilty of murdering her son by a majority verdict and unanimously convicted of attempting to murder her then two-year-old daughter.

Both children had been taken to the Royal Belfast Hospital for sick children, where the girl was successfully treated, with the boy later pronounced dead.

The woman’s lawyers mounted a legal bid to overturn the guilty verdict, based on issues around the trial process.

Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan, sitting in the Court of Appeal, backed those grounds of challenge, saying that she “cannot be satisfied that the convictions are safe”.

The woman currently remains in custody while the court seeks further clarification on any potential retrial.