Royal Society of NSW fellows back calls for Kathleen Folbigg pardon

Members of a prominent society have lent their voice to the campaign to free convicted serial baby killer Kathleen Folbigg.

Fellows from the Royal Society of New South Wales add weight to calls from the scientific community to pardon Kathleen Folbigg . Photo: AAP Image/Joel Carrett

A group of 66 Royal Society of New South Wales fellows has added new weight to calls by scientists to pardon convicted serial baby killer Kathleen Folbigg.

Folbigg is serving a 30-year jail term for killing her four children, who were aged between 19 days and 18 months when they died in separate incidents between February 1989 and March 1999.

The fellows, led by society president Ian Sloan, have written to NSW Governor Margaret Beazley and Attorney-General Mark Speakman in support of a petition presented last month by Australian Academy of Science fellows and scientists, arguing there are medical and scientific explanations for the death of each child.

The push to free Folbigg comes after a peer-reviewed paper by an international team of 27 scientists last year found the wrong conclusions had been made about genetic evidence in the case.

Professor Sloan, a mathematician, said he hoped the petition would add strength to the case to pardon Folbigg.

“It’s a statement from me, as president, and 65 other fellows of the Royal Society who feel there has not been enough attention paid to the science in this matter,” Professor Sloan said on Monday.

“The science has been evolving and there is now rather compelling evidence in the view of the signatories that the combination of genetic abnormalities and medical conditions can explain the death of the four children.

“The science as you view it now is very, very persuasive that she should not have been imprisoned and should now be pardoned.

Split screen photo from the 2019 inquiry into Kathleen Folbigg’s convictions. (AAP Image/Peter Rae)

“We really urge the law to take a backward step, look at the evidence and pardon Kathleen Folbigg.”

The letter hails the new research as “significant” in supporting natural causes for the infants’ deaths.

The research found two of Ms Folbigg’s daughters both carried a previously undiscovered variant in a gene likely to cause sudden unexpected death.

The researchers also said Ms Folbigg’s two sons carried a rare genetic defect known to cause fatal epilepsy in mice.

A diary entry by Kathleen Folbigg tendered to court, dated 9/11/1997.

Folbigg’s convictions, based largely on her diary entries, have been upheld through numerous legal challenges.

An inquiry into her case in 2019 again affirmed the guilty verdict.

That decision was upheld by the NSW Court of Appeal last month.

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.

She is due to be freed from jail in 2028.