Sally Clark, the solicitor who was wrongly convicted of killing her two baby sons, appears to have died of natural causes, an inquest was told yesterday.

Further tests are needed to establish a definite cause of death, the coroner heard.

Mrs Clark, 42, was found dead at her home in Essex by a friend on Friday morning. Paramedics were called, but they could not revive her.

Two Home Office pathologists, including Dr Nathaniel Cary, who was instructed by the Clark family, carried out post-mortem tests yesterday.

Mrs Clark’s family released a statement at the weekend. In it, they said that she had never recovered from her conviction in 1999 and subsequent prison term. They described her as a “loving and talented wife, mother, daughter and friend”.

At the trial, the prosecution alleged that Mrs Clark smothered her son Christopher when he was 11 weeks old. Fourteen months later, they said, she shook eight-week-old Harry until he was lifeless.

She was given two life sentences and spent more than three years in prison. Her husband, Stephen, maintained that she was innocent and campaigned tirelessly for her release. She was found to have been wrongly convicted in January 2003 after new medical evidence emerged.

Mrs Clark emerged from jail to say: “Today is not a victory. There are no winners here. We have all lost out. We simply feel relief that our nightmare is finally at an end.”

Steve Harris, the coroner’s officer at County Hall in Chelmsford, said: “The cause of death would appear to be natural, but further tests are required to reach a definitive cause of death.”

A solicitor acting for Mrs Clark’s family said that a pathologist had been engaged to oversee the post-mortem examination so that they could have confidence in the results.

Fiona Murphy, from Bhatt Murphy, said: “We did instruct Dr Nathaniel Cary to be present at the post-mortem. The post-mortem was conducted by [the Home Office pathologist] Dr [David] Rouse. We instructed Dr Cary so the family might have appropriate reassurance, bearing in mind the very sad history. The family will not be making any further comment until the cause of death has been confirmed.” She added that a full inquest may not be necessary if natural causes were found.

No family members were present at yesterday’s three-minute hearing. The coroner, Caroline Beasley-Murray, told Miss Murphy: “I would be grateful if you could express the court’s sympathy to Mrs Clark’s family on her very, very sad death.”

While facing trial for murder, Mrs Clark found that she was pregnant with her third child. Ten days after the boy was born, he was placed with foster parents. He was later returned to the family.

Three years ago The Times serialised the book Stolen Innocence: A Mother’s Fight for Justice — Sally Clark’s Story by John Batt. In one extract, Mrs Clark described the ordeal of trying to rebuild her life.

She said: “The whole world is so huge. Since my release, things have got worse, not better. In the first few weeks I seemed to be adjusting well. Now I am devastated that I seem to be going backwards. I have to stop what I am doing, over and over. I can’t cope.

“I am still very concerned about people recognising me. I don’t think for a moment that 100 per cent of people think I’m innocent — after all the things that were said about me in the press when I was convicted. People remember these things. From my perspective, I have never really proved my innocence.”

The inquest was adjourned to a date to be fixed. Sources said that it could be six weeks before results of the medical tests were known.

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