Inquiry into solicitor's death.Byline: BY MARK JOHNSON Mark Johnson may refer to: Academics and scientists
POLICE hope a post-mortem examination will hold the key to the death of wrongly-jailed Cheshire solicitor Sally Clark
Sally Clark (15 August 1964 – 15 March, 2007)[1] was a British lawyer. . A Home Office pathologist will carry out tests today to try to discover why Mrs Clark died. Reports yesterday indicated she died of a heart attack, but the cause has not been stated. The married solicitor, who was wrongly convicted of the murder of her two baby sons at her then Wilmslow house, was discovered early on Friday at her home in the Essex village of Hatfield Peverel. Mrs Clark's friends and family said she never recovered from the torment of being falsely convicted and being jailed for more than three years. She died four years after being cleared of the killings. Sue Stapeley, the Clark family's solicitor, said it would be very unwise to speculate on the cause of death. She had not been "in the best of health". Her family said in a statement that she "never fully recovered from the effects of this appalling miscarriage of justice A legal proceeding resulting in a prejudicial out-come. A miscarriage of justice arises when the decision of a court is inconsistent with the substantive rights of a party. ". The statement said: "Sally, a qualified solicitor, was a loving and talented wife, mother, daughter and friend. She will be greatly missed." Mrs Clark lived in Wilmslow when she was arrested. Her husband Stephen, also a solicitor, moved to Essex following her conviction and the couple lived there after her release. Mrs Clark was convicted following a trial at Chester Crown Court Chester Crown Court is a law court in Chester, England. It is most famous for staging the Moors Murders trial of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley in 1966. More recent high-profile murderers to have been tried at the court include Howard Hughes and John O'Shaugnessey. in 1999 after her 12-week-old son Christopher died in 1996 and his eight-week-old brother Harry died a year later. Expert witness paediatrician Sir Roy Meadow told jurors the chances of two natural unexplained cot deaths in the family was 73m to one. The figure was disputed by the Royal Statistical Society who said the odds of a second cot death in a family were about 200 to one. In January 2003, after her murder convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal, Mrs Clark, who also had a seven-year-old son, said her "nightmare was finally at an end". Meanwhile, the Government was yesterday urged to set up a support network to help victims of miscarriages of justice. The founder of a campaign group supporting victims of miscarriages of justice said hundreds of people struggled to cope after leaving prison when convictions were overthrown. John McManus, one of the founders of the Miscarriages of Justice Organisation The Miscarriage of Justice Organization (MOJO) is a charity dedicated to human rights and to changing the criminal justice system in order to reduce the number of miscarriages of criminal justice and increase the level of professional after-care for victims. (Mojo), said: "People like Sally Clark go through hell after being released. We don't know how she died yet. But it will have been stress-related." CAPTION(S): Sally Clark with her husband, Stephen - her family say she never recovered from her wrongful conviction |
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