Challenge to theory on baby injuries

The established theory of “shaken baby syndrome” is set to be
challenged at the Court of Appeal this week.

Four people convicted of killing or harming babies will attempt to
get the verdicts overturned through claiming that internal head
injuries can be caused by a sharp movement of the head, without
shaking.

The established theory of so-called “shaken baby syndrome” is that
such injuries can only be caused by shaking of sufficient
force.

The cases could lead to a number of other appeals.

Only one of the four, Raymond Rock, who was sentenced to life in
1999 for the murder of a 13-month-old girl, is still in
custody.

The others are Alan Cherry, who was convicted of the manslaughter
of a 21-month-old girl in 1995, Lorraine Harris, who was jailed for
the manslaughter of a four-month-old boy in 2000, and Michael
Faulder, who was convicted of GBH on a seven-week-old boy in
1999.

Two of the cases were among the 28 that the attorney general said
should be reconsidered in the light of concerns about the medical
evidence used to convict defendants, following a review of infant
deaths triggered by the Angela Cannings judgement.

A further six of those cases involve shaken baby syndrome.