ANGELA CANNINGS was reunited with her daughter last night after becoming the latest mother to have her convictions for murdering her babies quashed.

Future prosecutions of mothers feared to have killed their babies and the safety of dozens of other convictions are now in doubt after Mrs Cannings walked free from the Court of Appeal yesterday.

The judges overturned a jury’s verdict that the shop assistant smothered her seven-week-old son, Jason, in 1991 and eighteen-week-old son, Matthew, in 1999. Mrs Cannings, 40, always insisted that the boys had died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), or cot death. The cause of death of her first child, Gemma, at the age of 13 weeks in 1989 had been recorded as SIDS.

Outside the court, Mrs Cannings, whose seven-year-old daughter cannot be named for legal reasons, turned to her husband, Terry, 49, and said: “There are two special people in my life.

“My husband Terry, who has stood by me and always believed in my innocence — he’s my soul mate — and our precious daughter who over these four years has been our inspiration to carry on. I would like to now go home with Terry and for me especially to be mummy to our precious daughter.”

The appeal court judges said that research into cot deaths was “on the edges of known science” and expert views on its causes changed daily.

The ruling will bring into question the role of expert scientific witnesses whom jurors are thought to view as having a god-like status in court.

Lord Justice Judge, the chairman of the panel, yesterday agreed with Mrs Cannings’s legal team that some of the evidence given at her murder trial by Sir Roy Meadow, a retired paediatrician, had been “simply wrong”.

The Government had already ordered a review of procedures used for investigating mothers accused of murdering their own babies. The Crown Prosecution Service has said that it will look at whether to review past cases involving certain medical experts, including Professor Meadow.

Mrs Cannings, wearing a navy blue trouser suit, rocked back on her feet before bowing to the judges as they announced their decision. She has spent 20 months in jail after being convicted at Winchester Crown Court on two counts of murder last year.

Mrs Cannings thanked all those who had supported her and said that she “never gave up hope”.

“These last four years have been a living hell. Finally today justice has been done and my innocence has been proven,” she said:

Her husband Terry said last night: “We have taken Ange’s sentence minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day. My wife has had scalding water thrown in her face and been called a baby killer in jail. Imagine having to put up with all that at the same time as coping with the death of three of your children.”

Earlier the judges, who have deferred their full judgment, said that the case raised serious public interest issues about SIDS.

During the case, Michael Mansfield, counsel for Mrs Cannings, had fiercely criticised Professor Meadow, claiming his evidence for the prosecution had been discredited in a number of other cases involving cot deaths.

Mr Justice Judge said that some of Professor Meadow’s evidence in Mrs Cannings’s case had, in the light of new research, been shown to be “simply wrong”. Earlier this year the professor was condemned by senior judges for giving “manifestly wrong” evidence in the trial of Sally Clark, a solicitor who was convicted of murdering her two children before being cleared on appeal. His evidence in a series of cases is under review.

He told Mrs Clark’s trial that he maintained that the chances of two babies dying of sudden infant death syndrome in the same family was one in 73 million. The figure is now thought to be considerably lower. Mr Mansfield said Professor Meadow introduced that statistic “by the back door” to Mrs Cannings’s jury.

He has also been criticised for his claim, known as “Meadow’s Law” that one cot death is a tragedy, two is suspicious and three is murder.

Mr Mansfield told the court that it was still largely unknown what role genetic and environmental factors played in such deaths. He insisted that because the prosecution had no evidence to show Mrs Cannings smothered her two children she was forced to prove her innocence, instead of the Crown proving her guilt.

“The door never seems to be closed about new views about what may or may not not cause cot deaths,” Mr Mansfield told the judges yesterday.

Mr Justice Judge replied: “We are here on the edges of known science and research is absolutely continuous and producing new results and opinions on a daily basis.”

William Bache, Mrs Cannings’s solicitor, said after she was freed: “We still don’t know what causes cot death and until a great deal more is known about it prosecutions against others in the same situation as Angela should not continue.”

Mrs Clark, 39, issued a statement, saying: “It’s clear there’s been a huge shift in attitude in the way that the legal system is now dealing with the tragedy of unexplained infant deaths.”

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