Angela Cannings

Angela Cannings was charged with murder directly after she and her husband Terry lost their third infant in ten years. She was prosecuted, without any corroborating evidence, based on the expert testimony of Britain's then most distinguished paediatrician, Sir Roy Meadow. Meadow was so influential that one of his theories came to be known as "Meadow's Law." Meadow wrote that in a single family, "one sudden infant death is a tragedy, two is suspicious and three is murder until proved otherwise." Angela was convicted and spent almost two years in prison. She was kept separate from most other prisoners and, at one point, found herself in the high security wing beside Rose West. A fellow inmate attacked Angela with hot coffee and scarred her. Angela, whose resilience and determination has proved extraordinary, lost hope and began to despair. She was pulled out of her desperate state of mind by a long-term criminal cellmate, Rose, who helped her refocus on what was important - being reunited with her husband and their daughter Jade.

Eventually Angela's conviction was overturned and she was released unconditionally. Yet, together with the joy of her freedom, there came an enormous emotional ordeal for Angela and Terry - to turn around the devastation wrecked on their lives and rebuild a normal family life.

Angela is writing their story, Against All Odds, with Megan Lloyd Davies, a Daily Mirror journalist who befriended her while covering the story. UK & Commonwealth rights sold to Little, Brown UK who published 2006.