7 Expert evidence case study

The Sally Clark case is a sobering illustration of when expert evidence goes badly wrong. Sally Clark was a solicitor who suffered the deaths of two of her children in unexplained circumstances but whose grief was then compounded by being accused of their murder and having her third son taken away from her. Numerous mistakes were made by the prosecution expert witnesses, but these errors were initially not picked up by the courts. After a second appeal and the dramatic discovery of exculpatory evidence, Sally Clark was released from custody. Nonetheless, some years after being released from prison, she was found dead at home, her death caused by acute alcohol intoxication, but few doubted her treatment at the hands of the justice system was to blame.