THE prosecution of mothers accused of killing their new-born babies is expected to be consigned to legal history in all but the rarest cases after the quashing yesterday of the conviction of Angela Cannings.

Hers is one of three high-profile cases that have forced a review of multiple cot death prosecutions by the Attorney-General.

Sally Clark, a solicitor, won her appeal in January to overturn her 1999 conviction for murdering her two baby sons; and Trupti Patel, a pharmacist, was found not guilty in June of murdering her three babies.

The review has turned up 50 cases of murder, manslaughter or infanticide (not just cot deaths) dating back five to seven years and involving the prosecution pathologist Dr Alan Williams. His non-disclosure of evidence was crucial in the case of Sally Clark and he was heavily criticised by the Court of Appeal.

But the review, by the police and Crown Prosecution Service, may now be extended to include cases involving Professor Sir Roy Meadow, the paediatrician who was a key prosecution witness in all three cases. He has now retired.

One of the cases that might be affected is that of Donna Anthony, 30, who is serving two life sentences after being found guilty in 1998 of murdering her 11-month-old daughter Jordan, and son Michael, four months. No evidence of physical injury to the children was found but Professor Meadow said she had probably smothered the babies.

Her legal representative, George Hawks, said: “I am sure that this will give Donna hope, although she has learnt over five and a half years not to raise her hopes too much.”

Her future was in the hands of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which had the power to refer her case to the Court of Appeal, he said. “Now that Roy Meadow is no longer being treated like a demi-god, hopefully this will bode well for Donna.”

A spokesman for the CPS said yesterday that no decision had been taken on extending the existing review.

At the trial of Mrs Clark, Professor Meadow told the jury that the chance of two children in such an affluent family dying of cot death was “one in 73 million”. That led the Royal Statistical Society to take the unprecedented step of writing to the Lord Chancellor stating there was “no statistical basis” for the figure.

Crown prosecutors have been sent guidance requesting that all current cases involving either expert be identified and the defence be sent a copy of the Sally Clark judgment.

All three cases highlight the problems in investigating cases where babies die suddenly and unexpectedly. The three mothers protested their innocence but an acquittal can be difficult because juries, experts say, have a revulsion to a mother who may have hurt her child.

Professor Gary Slapper, director of the law programme at the Open University, has argued that cases of sudden infant death could be looked at by a panel of doctors, as in Sweden, not by the police and prosecuting authorities.

He said yesterday: “It is clear that atrocious injustice has been allowed to fall on mothers who are already in deep agony.”

Joyce Epstein, director of the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths, called for an overhaul of the way sudden baby deaths are investigated. She said: “Many parents are put through a very tough time because of rash unsupported views, quick judgments and incomplete investigations. Evidence should be tested before it reaches any court.”

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