A Cry for Help
Another letter sent to Portia.
I am appealing to you for help as my
husband has been charged with murdering our two baby sons.
Our first son was born
on August 19, 1995, and died on October 14; he was only eight weeks old. He had four
episodes where he stopped breathing and we got him to hospital each time. When they
did the post-mortem they found a pulmonary haemorrhage due to Hystiocytoid Cardiomyopathy.
Our
second son was born on August 29, 1999, and died on September 22; we had to seek
medical advice the whole three weeks he was alive as he always had attacks where
he gasped for air. We spoke to midwives, nurses and doctors and they all told us
it was normal; and was probably mucus. He was always a snuffly baby. Midwives, nurses
and other members of the family witnessed these attacks but no-one took it seriously
enough to find out what was wrong - including so many doctors. There were two episodes
where he turned blue and we got him to hospital; he died in hospital when they turned
off the ventilating machine.
One week after he died CID came and asked if we would
both go to the police station and give statements. We didn't realise they were accusing
us of anything and we went voluntarily. They questioned me for over 12 hours and
my husband was questioned for over seven hours until he confessed and said what they
wanted to hear. I know he is innocent and he only confessed because he hadn't had
a break or drink all the time he was interviewed. I also know they pushed him into
saying things he didn't want to, because they pushed me into saying I believed he
murdered my babies.
I was put under so much pressure and I wasn't a suspect, so I
know my husband was under a lot more pressure. We both didn't think we would need
a solicitor and now we wish we had had one present. I asked twice to speak to my
mum and they wouldn't allow it.
When they did the post-mortem on our second son, they
put on the certificate, "Unascertained." My husband's solicitor requested a second
post-mortem and Dr Keeling did the tests. So far it doesn't say my son was murdered
but it also doesn't say he wasn't. I do remember from her report, there was a lot
of iron in his blood.
My husband was not allowed to go to the funeral, which was really
unfair as all they have against him is his confession, which he retracted, and explained
the circumstances at the time. He has never been a violent man. I've known him over
five years and it was always me who was aggressive during arguments.
He always wanted
me to trust him with our sons, which I did, and he wanted to care for them as much
as me. He fed them, changed and bathed them, and did everything for us all. He adored
our sons and always wanted to hold them and be with them. He was a brilliant dad,
and now he's in prison. He's trying to be strong and hopeful but he's getting scared
because he knows he will get the trial date soon.
We can't understand why he's been
charged with my first baby's death, even though the post-mortem report showed the
child had a heart problem.
When our second baby was with us I will admit we were anxious
and scared in case he had the same problems. We were always told not to worry about
those breathing attacks and he was fine. No-one was interested in finding out what
caused these attacks.
When he was in hospital the first time his stats kept dropping
very low and they let us home when they were getting normal. No one listened to our
worries and they always dismissed them as being normal.
No-one listened to us when
our sons were alive, and we are worrying that no-one will listen to us at the trial.
Both our babies had slight jaundice until they died and we were told it would go
after two weeks. It never did disappear and they began to test our first son's blood
to see if he needed treatment for it. He never needed treatment for it but it was
always there for the full eight weeks. Our second son's jaundice was not so severe
and he had it the full three weeks.
They are accusing my husband of suffocating our
sons. I know he is innocent but no-one will listen. They are set on convicting him
even though they have no evidence of murder from any of the post-mortem reports.
We are both worrying about the trial and we are so scared. We need as much help as
possible to get people to listen to us.
We need doctors and scientists to realise
that they still have a lot to learn, especially about cot death and the brain.
There
are so many questions these people can't answer and I don't want them to give up
finding answers. If they keep putting cot death cases down to murder then no one
will ever know the truth.
We hope you can help us in any way and we look forward
to hearing from you.
Mrs Francis Jenkinson, Glasgow.
PS. My husband's name is Darran
John Jenkinson, and he should get his trial date within the next three weeks. We
think he will go to trial in January 2000.
www.slimeylimeyjustice.org