Murder bid mother appeal delayed

Michelle Dickinson was jailed for trying to kill her son

A decision on an appeal by a mother found guilty of trying to murder her son has been adjourned.

Michelle Dickinson was jailed for life for attempting to murder her seven-year-old son Michael by poisoning him with anti-epileptic drugs.

Dickinson, 32, of Seascale, Cumbria, is appealing against verdicts of attempted murder and child cruelty.

On Friday, her lawyer urged three judges at the Court of Appeal in London to find her conviction unsafe.

During her trial, the court heard how Dickinson suffered from the controversial condition Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, in which sufferers are said to induce or fabricate illnesses in others, in order to get attention themselves.

She was alleged to have duped doctors into prescribing medication for her son Michael after wrongly claiming he had epilepsy at the age of three.

Different allegation

She was sentenced to life at Liverpool Crown Court in January 2003.

The judge said she must serve at least eight years and four months before being considered for parole.

Dickinson was originally charged with murdering Michael but towards the end of the prosecution's case the judge allowed the indictment to be amended by adding the alternative charge of attempted murder.

On Friday, her counsel, Tim Holroyde QC, said the amendment should never have been allowed.

He said it effectively permitted the Crown to change its ground and the defence was faced with having to answer a different allegation.