‘Cannot be ignored’: Scientists say there is compelling evidence Kathleen Folbigg’s kids died from natural causes

‘Deeply concerning’: Scientists convinced Kathleen Folbigg’s children died of natural causes have expressed their dismay after she was again knocked back by a court.

Scientists say the evidence in support of Kathleen Folbigg’s innocence is “compelling” and “cannot be ignored” as the jailed mother continues to fight to overturn her convictions for killing her four infant children.

On Wednesday morning Folbigg lost a bid to throw out the findings of a 2019 inquiry that concluded Folbigg’s guilt was reinforced, not diminished, by a review of the evidence.

The retired District Court judge Reginald Blanch made no legal errors and had ample evidence to find no cloud of reasonable doubt hung over the 2003 convictions in his inquiry, the NSW Court of Appeal ruled.

Folbigg, appearing via video link from prison, did not react as the latest bid to fight her convictions for smothering her children was knocked back in a matter of seconds.

She has been imprisoned for 18 years this year, but an increasingly prominent group of people argue she has been the victim of an extraordinary miscarriage of justice.

Caleb Folbigg was just 19 days old when he died in February 1989.

Wednesday’s court blow came just weeks after a group of 90 eminent scientists and doctors petitioned NSW Governor Margaret Beazley to pardon Folbigg based on new medical evidence suggesting her two daughters may have died of natural causes linked to a genetic abnormality.

A number of experts expressed dismay and concern over the ruling on Wednesday afternoon, noting a peer-reviewed paper supportive of Folbigg’s innocence was published in a top cardiology journal last year.

The Court of Appeal only scrutinised Mr Blanch’s inquiry for legal errors and did not make its own finding on Folbigg’s guilt.

Professor Carola Vinuesa from the Australian National University said the court had adopted “conclusions” from Mr Blanch about the genetics evidence, which had since been overridden by the scientific paper.

Australian Academy of Science president Professor John Shine said it was “deeply concerning” there appeared to be no mechanism to weigh up the medical and scientific evidence in the case.

“There is now an alternative explanation for the death of the Folbigg children that does not rely on circumstantial evidence,” he said.

Human geneticist and researcher Professor Jozef Gecz said “The science in this particular case is compelling and cannot be ignored.”

Kathleen Folbigg appears via video link during a convictions inquiry. Picture: AAP

Folbigg was convicted in 2003 of murdering her babies Patrick, Sarah and Laura and of the manslaughter of her 19-day-old son Caleb in four separate incidents over a decade, starting in 1989.

Diary entries in which she expressed guilt and anguish over her children’s deaths and her frustrations and struggles with parenting were a key plank of the prosecution case.

In 2019 Mr Blanch presided over an inquiry into Folbigg’s convictions, ordered by NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman.

He considered whether new medical developments pointed to Folbigg’s exoneration, but his report concluded the inquiry had only reinforced her guilt.

Folbigg then asked the Court of Appeal to review Mr Blanch’s findings, arguing he had made several errors.

Justices John Basten, Mark Leeming and Paul Brereton upheld Mr Blanch’s findings on Wednesday and ordered Folbigg to pay costs.

Laura (pictured) and Sarah Folbigg had a genetic abnormality that some experts say could have been the real cause of their death.

The scientific evidence about a genetic abnormality, CALM2, carried by Sarah and Laura was not at odds with the inquiry’s conclusions, they wrote.

The evidence did raise the “theoretical possibility that there were innocent explanations for the deaths of the two girls”.

But it had to be considered against other evidence suggesting the deaths of the two girls were “outliers” and not comparable to other deaths linked to the genetic mutation, they wrote.

Professor Vinuesa disagreed with this finding and referred back to a report put to the 2019 inquiry.

“The International Calmodulin Registry and peer-reviewed literature document that the Folbigg girls’ deaths were not outliers with regards to already known CALM-related sudden unexpected deaths,” she said.

Folbigg will be in prison for 18 years this year and maintains her innocence over the deaths of Patrick (pictured) and her other children.

The scientific evidence and Folbigg’s diary entries, taken together, provided an “ample basis” for Mr Blanch to conclude there was no reasonable doubt hanging over Folbigg’s guilt, the court ruled.

The petition for Folbigg’s pardon sent to Governor Beazley earlier this month argues that Mr Blanch’s findings “run counter to the scientific and medical evidence that now exists”.

Folbigg’s supporters say new medical evidence suggests Sarah (pictured) and her siblings died from natural causes.

It states new medical evidence “creates a strong presumption that the Folbigg children died of natural causes”, which should only be usurped by “overwhelming evidence” to the contrary.

Mr Speakman has said he would give the petition “appropriate consideration”.

Originally published as ‘Cannot be ignored’: Scientists say there is compelling evidence Kathleen Folbigg’s kids died from natural causes