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When I lost my son Benjamin to a cot death in 1976 it was common place for people to shun you and presume you were guilty of murder, even when the Police found no suspicious circumstances and you were not charged with any offence. I was after losing Benjamin subject to the most atrocious behaviour from total strangers, for example I was spat on and called a baby killer by one woman in a supermarket, I was going round in a daze of grief only two weeks after Benjamin's funeral, this resulted in my taking an overdose that night and ending up in intensive care.

The trauma and the devastation I am still living now in the knowledge that many people will always consider a parent who has lost their child this way is and always will be a nightmare. The mental trauma caused by this is enormous! The stress would drive anyone over the edge and leave them in a suicidal state of mind, yet there is little to no help for them. In my case when I had my next baby the Social workers made my life a complete misery, and kept referring back to my son's cot death, which obviously distressed me greatly.

I have written my autobiography 'Bad Blood' and Benjamin's life and cot death are in there, along with the harrowing events which followed, the Police the Social workers and the general callous behaviour and events that occurred back then.

I really feel for people like Angela Canning who spent 18 months in jail until her conviction was quashed in December 2003 when key medical evidence against her was discredited. It is my opinion that she should have received some sort of compensation as the authorities are responsible for her wrongful conviction in the first place.

Every time someone was, is in the media convicted for murdering a baby for what was in fact a cot death, I personally felt the gaze of people looking at me, I knew/know they were wondering if I was a murderer who got away with it, this cuts me to the bone, I would find myself reliving the horror of it all, I become distraught.

It does not matter if a parent has never been charged with, convicted of or consequently acquitted of murdering a baby who in reality died of a cot death, in the eyes of some they will always be seen as guilty of murder, with or without trial! This is why in my opinion Sally Clark, who was wrongly jailed for the murder of her two sons should have had died from a broken heart and stress put on her death certificate. I really feel for her family, my heart goes out to them!

Link to:
News about Sally Clark http://www.sallyclark.org.uk/
F oundation for the study of infant deaths: http://www.sids.org.uk/

Angela Canning News. http://news.sky.com/skynews/ar ticle/0,30100-1256262,00.html

Learn more about this author, Linda Corby.
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