A YOUNG mother convicted of murdering her two babies is to mount a new appeal after the acquittal of Sally Clark, her solicitor said yesterday.

The case of Donna Anthony, who was jailed for life in 1998, is to be put before the Criminal Cases Review Commission after concerns about evidence given during Mrs Clark’s trial.

Sir Roy Meadow, a professor of paediatrics whose testimony helped to convict Mrs Clark, also appeared as an expert witness at Anthony’s trial.

Jurors at Mrs Clark’s trial were told by Sir Roy that the likelihood of two infant deaths in the same family was one in 73 million. The data, which was an unpublished theory, was later dismissed by other medical experts and the Royal Statistical Society as without foundation.

In the light of Mrs Clark’s successful appeal, up to six mothers convicted of baby killings in trials attended by Sir Roy could have their cases reviewed.

Anthony, a 29-year-old housewife, was found guilty at Bristol Crown Court of murdering her 11-month-old daughter Jordan and four-month-old son Michael. The jury heard evidence from Sir Roy describing the likelihood of two cot deaths in one family as a chance in a million. Other experts have since claimed it to be as low as one in 8,500.

Anthony’s solicitor, George Hawks, said yesterday that he was writing to the Criminal Cases Review Commission to launch a second appeal against her sentence.

“Her whole conviction centred around an unpublished statistic given to the jury by Professor Meadow,” he said. “She was basically convicted of murder on the basis of a statistic, and I think that is frightening.

“Sally Clark’s victory has given Donna a small chink of hope, a small bit of light at the end of the tunnel.”

Anthony, of Yeovil, Somerset, found her daughter Jordan blue-faced in her cot on February 1, 1996. A post-mortem examination was inconclusive and the cause of death was registered as sudden unexpected death in infancy, or cot death.

It was not until July 1997, when four-month-old Michael died in similar circumstances, that a police investigation began. A post-mortem examination on the baby boy also proved inconclusive.

During Anthony’s trial in November 1998, the prosecution claimed that she had smothered the children because of their constant crying and interruptions.

Sir Roy, a leading advocate of what some have called “Meadow’s Law” — that “one cot death is a tragedy, two is suspicious, and three is murder” — said in evidence that such a double cot death was one in a million.

“I do not find that the circumstances of either life or either death are likely to have been caused by natural illness,” he said. “I find that the circumstances of both lives and both deaths are typical of a child who has been smothered.”

Anthony’s legal team claim that Peter Berry, the trial pathologist, changed his diagnosis of the babies’ deaths after reading a report on the case written by Sir Roy.

“At the time of Donna (Anthony)’s case Professor Meadow’s work was unpublished and unproved,” Mr Hawks said yesterday. “By the time the Sally Clark trial came along his figure had changed to one in 73 million, and who knows how he got to that figure. Professor Meadow simply does not believe in cot death.”

Anthony’s first appeal, in June 2000, was thrown out because a legal technicality prevented them from questioning Sir Roy’s evidence.

John Batt, Mrs Clark’s solicitor, this week led calls for a review of Anthony’s case, as well as those of Angela Cannings, a Hampshire housewife, and Margaret Smith, a 37-year-old mother from Hull.

Sir Roy was unavailable for comment yesterday.

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