Kathleen Folbigg – the woman once dubbed Australia’s worst female serial killer – is FREED from prison after serving 20 years behind bars accused of killing her four children
- Kathleen Folbigg to be freed from prison
- New genetic evidence has found ‘reasonable doubt’
- She’s spent 20 years in jail for the deaths of her kids
Kathleen Folbigg will be released from jail and pardoned immediately, the NSW Attorney General Michael Daley has announced.
The mother of four has been locked up for killing her children for 20 years, after being convicted in 2003.
‘There is reasonable doubt for the guilt of Ms Folbigg for each of those offences,’ Mr Daley said, adding that she would be granted a free pardon and released from prison as soon as possible.
Supporters have been calling for her to be immediately released from prison after counsel assisting an inquiry said there was now a reasonable doubt that she had killed her four children.
Mr Daley said he extended his sympathy to the children’s father, Craig Folbigg.
Folbigg, 55, was convicted of the murder of her children Patrick, Sarah and Laura, as well as manslaughter of her first child Caleb, who all died between 1989 and 1999.
She has consistently maintained her innocence and denied killing her children but is serving a 30-year prison term.
After exhausting all her avenues of appeal, an inquiry in 2019 reinforced her guilt.
A second inquiry was called following lobbying from the scientific community after the discovery of what was described as fresh genetic evidence.
Kathleen Folbigg has spent 20 years in prison for the killing of her four children and had exhausted all of her appeals by 2019
An inquiry has been called after the discovery of what was described as fresh genetic evidence in the case (pictured: Folbigg prior to sentencing)
The inquiry, which is being overseen by retired Supreme Court Justice Tom Bathurst KC, was set up to consider the possibility the Folbigg children died of natural causes after a string of medical experts suggested there was a genetic mutation which could have resulted in the deaths of Laura and Sarah.
New expert medical evidence published in March 2021 cast doubt on Folbigg’s guilt after it showed that Sarah and Laura Folbigg carried a genetic mutation – known as CALM2 G114R – which can cause cardiac problems and lead to sudden death.
DNA sequencing found that Folbigg and her daughters shared the variants, however Caleb and Patrick did not.
The gene produces the calmodulin protein, CALM2, which affects the opening and closing of channels in the heart.
Folbigg was convicted of the murder of her son Patrick (right), as well as manslaughter of her first child Caleb (left)
Medical experts say there might have been a genetic mutation which caused the deaths of Sarah (left) and Laura (right)
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