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Radio host Alan Jones leads calls for convicted child killer Kathleen Folbigg to have her case reviewed

EXCLUSIVE: RADIO host Alan Jones has been visiting convicted child killer Kathleen Folbigg in jail and is calling for her case to be reviewed.

RADIO host Alan Jones has been visiting Australia's most notorious convicted child killer Kathleen Folbigg in Silverwater jail and says she is innocent.

The 2GB star believes the evidence used to convict Folbigg, 45, of the murder of three of her young children and the manslaughter of a fourth in 2003 has been "discredited".

And he has given his backing to a University of Newcastle Legal Centre plan to seek a judicial inquiry into her case later this year.

"Having met the woman I find her a very courageous woman and an outstanding person who faces this injustice with great dignity but it's very, very hard," Jones told The Sunday Telegraph.

He decided to visit Folbigg after interviewing academic lawyer Emma Cunliffe, who argued Folbigg had been wrongly convicted in her book Murder, Medicine and Motherhood. "The evidence that was used against Kathleen Folbigg has been discredited and here is this researcher, who has gone into very comprehensive detail, and she highlights this problem," Jones said.

Alan Jones has leant his support to Kathleen Folbigg.
Alan Jones has leant his support to Kathleen Folbigg.

"Society collectively should be concerned if a woman is lying in jail, convicted for (killing) four children, if she did not do it."

Folbigg was jailed for 40 years, reduced to 30 on appeal, for the murder of three of her young children and the manslaughter of one between 1989 and 1999. The evidence against her was circumstantial and relied heavily on harrowing extracts from her personal diaries.

"Consensus tells you that when a woman loses her baby she feels a sense of guilt," Jones said.

Laura Folbigg, one of four children that died, pictured with her father Craig at her first birthday party.
Laura Folbigg, one of four children that died, pictured with her father Craig at her first birthday party.

"How she translates that in language, her feelings of failure to the child, to be a good mother, is by writing that to herself in these diaries. They were then used against her. Cunliffe again examines that and finds it has failed."

The Canada-based academic concluded Folbigg had been wrongly convicted ­because of the lack of proof beyond reasonable doubt and by experts blurring medical evidence and common sense over the cause of death of each of the four children.

Researchers had also ­argued that Folbigg was the last serial child killer to remain in jail after the work of British serial child killer ­expert Sir Roy Meadow was discredited. Meadow's law on cot death argued: "One is a tragedy, two is suspicious and three is murder."

"I am persuaded that the expert evidence is not convincing at all. This so-called 'scholarship' has been discredited," Jones said..

"Having read the Cunliffe research I thought the least I could do is go out and meet the lady and offer her some moral support."

They have also regularly exchanged letters.

 Sarah Folbigg, taken early 1993, with her parents Kathleen and Craig Folbigg, she died at 10 months.
Sarah Folbigg, taken early 1993, with her parents Kathleen and Craig Folbigg, she died at 10 months.

"She is very resigned," he said. "She doesn't use bitter language but deep down she must wonder if she will ever see the sun come up outside prison walls again.

"She is optimistic that the truth will come out."

Folbigg has exhausted her avenues of appeal through the court. The University of Newcastle Legal Centre is now working on a submission seeking a judicial inquiry into her case and plans to submit it to either Governor Marie Bashir or Attorney- General Greg Smith.

Centre Director Shaun McCarthy said it would be submitted around May.

But experts involved in the prosecution of Folbigg remain privately unconvinced by Cunliffe's arguments. They point to the fact that Meadow's expertise was not used in court and that Folbigg's case was delayed until after convicted British child killer Sally Clark was released on appeal.

The Court of Criminal ­Appeal upheld Folbigg's conviction, defending the conclusions and reasoning of the court and stating it was not "convinced that there has been any miscarriage of justice in this case".

Folbigg's sister Lea Bown dismissed the idea of an ­appeal as "a disgusting ridiculous joke".

"What does that mean for the children?" she asked.

Caleb Folbigg was just 20 days old when he died.
Caleb Folbigg was just 20 days old when he died.

The Court of Criminal Appeal upheld Folbigg's conviction, defending the conclusions and reasoning of the court and stating it was not "convinced that there has been any miscarriage of justice in this case."

Folbigg's sister Lea Bown dismissed the idea of an appeal as "a disgusting ridiculous joke.

"What does that mean for the children?" she asked.

"She has been found guilty by 12 jurors and there is no way those children died by anything other than her hand.

"I think they should leave things alone. She has been to the court three times now and they have knocked her back.

"Emma Cunliffe wasn't there at the trial. I sat through all seven weeks. It wasn't until I got into the court, that I realised things were not adding up and that she was guilty," said Mrs Bown.

"She is guilty. If they get it back to court I will be there to testify against her. Someone has to speak up for those four little kids."

Plaque at Anglican Church in Singleton which holds the ashes of Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura.
Plaque at Anglican Church in Singleton which holds the ashes of Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura.

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Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/radio-host-alan-jones-leads-calls-for-convicted-child-killer-kathleen-folbigg-to-have-her-case-reviewed/news-story/14d9b3d8b66b1e36fc6e3800633bdb56