Abstract
The winner of the inaugural Paul Foot Award for campaigning journalism conducted a four-year investigation into the injustices suffered by three women wrongly imprisoned for killing their children. Sweeney's work led to the exposure of erroneous evidence by chief prosecution witness Sir Roy Meadow and him being struck off by the General Medical Council. Here the reporter argues that the families and friends of accused persons should be actively brought cases and the jury required to consider their expertise. "There came a point when [in court] I wondered to myself: why is the system not listening to these people, the friends and family? Reporters do it, because it's their job. Well, it's the system's job too."
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