Mother guilty of killing her baby

Jennifer Liehne, 42, was convicted of assault and the culpable homicide of seven-month-old daughter Jacqueline in December 1982. She denied the charges.

It was originally thought Jacqueline was the victim of a cot death, but medical experts believed foul play was involved after re-examining the case.

Sentence was deferred until 11 May at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Modern techniques

The jury of 11 women and four men took two days to reach their verdict.

The decision to reopen the case was prompted by social workers when Liehne became pregnant again in 2001.

By that time two surviving daughters had been taken from her and put into care.

Notes taken during baby Jacqueline's stays in hospital were carefully examined and samples taken during a post-mortem examination were tested again using more modern techniques.

The result was that Liehne was charged with murder.

During the trial the murder charge was reduced to culpable homicide.

"Nearly everybody we spoke to during the reinvestigation of the events in 1982 recalled Jennifer Liehne"
Chief Inspector Jacqueline Conway

A charge of attempted murder, by interfering with Jacqueline's breathing on earlier occasions, was reduced to an assault to the danger of the little girl's life.

The original post-mortem examination was performed by Professor Anthony Busuttil.

He told the court he now believed the child had been suffocated.

Liehne, of Craigmillar Court, Peffermill Road, Edinburgh, did not give evidence.

'Medical science'

Defence counsel Edgar Prais QC called other experts on her behalf who suggested various ways in which Jacqueline could have died from natural causes.

A statement from Lothian and Borders Police said that the case demonstrated the "complex nature of child protection and the difficulties that face professionals in this field".

Chief Inspector Jacqueline Conway said: "Nearly everybody we spoke to during the reinvestigation of the events in 1982 recalled Jennifer Liehne.

"They remembered the level of suspicion around the child's death and the possibility that she had some hand in that. But the medical science was not sophisticated or advanced enough to explain that.

"The team of investigators, social workers, health professionals, the Procurator Fiscal and Crown Office have been determined to bring the matter to justice for the facts to be examined."

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