Sally Clark
Sally Clark - Inquest 7th November 2007
Press statement from Sally's family and précis of information leading to
verdict of accidental death
All Sally's family and friends knew her as a loving and devoted mother,
wife and daughter. A view also shared by all the professionals who cared
for her and her children.
Sally was unable to come to terms with the false accusations, based on
flawed medical evidence and the failures of the legal system, which debased
everything she had been brought up to believe in and which she herself
practised.
Having suffered what was acknowledged by the Court of Appeal to be one of
the worst miscarriages of justice of recent years, it is hardly surprising
that her ordeal over 10 years, culminated in the diagnosis of 'Enduring
Personality Change after Catastrophic Experience', 'Protracted Grief
Reaction' and 'Alcohol Dependency Syndrome' and that she was never able to
return to being the happy, kind and generous person we all knew and loved.
The hope is that some good may come out of the tragedy of her untimely
death, and that a sense of balance will be restored which will protect not only
infants but also their innocent parents.
The family would like to thank the thousands of people whose confidence in
Sally never wavered, particularly the many lawyers, politicians, doctors
and friends who worked and supported her tirelessly. Not least those
journalists who quickly realised that something had gone terribly wrong.
Lastly, we should like to thank HM Coroner and her staff, for their
sensitive consideration of the family.
NB: The family will be making no other statement or granting any
interviews and hopes to be allowed to return to some kind of normality.
The media are reminded that all details of Sally's surviving child, their
whereabouts and who cares for them continue to be protected by a Court
injunction.
Issued on behalf of Sally's family by Sue Stapely
Quiller Consultants, T 020 7233 9444, M 07885 798833 [these contact details are now out of date; October 2011]
INQUEST
PRÉCIS
This Inquest touches upon the death of Sally Clark, a lady aged 42 years
who was born on 15th August 1964.
The circumstances leading to this unfortunate death are that in 1998 Mrs
Clark was arrested on suspicion of the murder of her two sons. In November
1999 she was convicted of those offences and imprisoned.
Mrs Clark was released from prison on 29th January 2003 following a
successful appeal against conviction and attempted to rebuild her life.
According to her family this was not an easy time for her and she underwent
various assessments eventually being diagnosed with a number of serious
psychiatric problems. These problems included Enduring Personality Change
after Catastrophic Experience, Protracted Grief Reaction and Alcohol
Dependency Syndrome. With the complete support of her husband and family,
she attended various Hospitals and Clinics in an attempt to overcome this
problem.
On 16th March 2007 Mrs Clark was found in her bed, by her cleaner,
apparently not breathing. Paramedics attended and confirmed that Mrs Clark
had died.
A Post Mortem examination was carried out a Broomfield Hospital by Dr David
Rouse, a Home Office Forensic Pathologist, and he requested that Histology
and Toxicology samples be taken and analysed.
Toxicology showed that alcohol was detected at a concentration of 428mg per
100ml, more than 5 times the drink drive limit.
Having received the results of all of the examinations Dr Rouse was able to
give a cause of death as:
Acute Alcohol Intoxication
No witnesses are being called.
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