6th March 1997: A Grand Jury indict Louise on a charge of first degree murder. If convicted, she could face life in prison without parole. ibid. captions
Louise labelled guilty in the court of public opinion lost before the trial started. The au pair agency that recruited Louise paid for a high-profile legal team to defend her. ibid.
With Sky’s live daily broadcasts, the British public were able to watch Matthew’s mother, Deborah Eappen, give her testimony as it happened. ibid.
Louise Woodward guilty to second-degree murder. ibid.
The trial was over but the media coverage remained unrelenting. And protests about Louise Woodward’s innocence sprang up immediately. ibid.
Manslaughter, and she walks. ibid. Boston Globe front page
The Massachusetts Supreme Court upheld Judge Zobel’s decision by a 4-3 majority. Louise Woodward was free to return home. ibid. caption
A case that divided two nations … What really happened to Matthew Eappen? The Killer Nanny: Did She Do It? I: The Case for the Prosecution, Channel 4 2022
They were adorable. Brendan was very advanced for his age. And you could hold a conversation with him. He was very talkative. And Maddy was a very sweet baby. He was smily, playful. And they were just beautiful children. ibid. Louise Woodward, Panorama, BBC 1998
4th February 1997 16.07: Matthew Eappen is admitted to Boston Children’s Hospital. It is decided 8-month-old Matthew needs emergency brain surgery. ibid. caption
The child received serious injuries … She told me that she tossed him on the bed … ‘Yeah, I was a bit frustrated’ … She took the child into the bathroom and she dropped him on the floor … ‘Maybe I was a little rough with him’ … She may have shaken the baby. ibid. Bill Byrne, lead detective Woodward case
9th February 1997: Matthew’s parents make the decision to turn off his life support machine. ibid.
6th October 1997: Louise Woodward stands trial for the murder of Matthew Eappen. ibid.
Many convictions for shaken baby syndrome are reversed. You just can’t rely on them. ibid. medical expert
The evidence in this case is going to show you that that never happened. The Killer Nanny: Did She Do It? II: The Case for the Defence, defence statement
If you assume the prosecution’s theory to be correct for the sake of argument, and that Louise Woodward, this tiny person, these tiny hands, had shaken the living daylights out of this 22-pound butterball of a baby, you’d expect some bruising. ibid. medical expert
What I saw was that the injury was not a fresh injury. So no matter what they say it could not have happened on that day … There was a fracture and evidence of bone healing which meant that it was an older fracture. ibid. doctor
She had a plus-12 which is definitely well above the amount necessary to indicate truthfulness. The confidence in that result is at least 90%. ibid. lie-detector expert
The defense want the jury to hear Louise’s side of the story. Controversially, Louise and her team decide that she will take the stand. ibid. caption
I was just scared and inhibited. ibid. Louise
31st October 1997: Louise returns to court to be sentenced. The Killer Nanny: Did She Do It? III
After trial I began to have some concern about my testimony. ibid. prosecution doctor
In the state of Massachusetts a judge has the power to re-assess the jury’s verdict. ibid.
I felt horror when Judge Zobel changed the verdict. ibid. juror
Susan and Gary Woodward had sold the story to the Daily Mail for £40,000. ibid. medical expert
The circumstances in which the defendant acted were characterized by confusion, inexperience, frustration, immaturity and some anger, but not malice (in the legal sense). ibid. Judge Zobel
We go inside one of the most controversial court cases of all time. In 1997 eight-month-old Matthew Eappen was in the care of his young British nanny Louise Woodward when she made a panicked call to emergency services claiming he was unresponsive. Tragically, he died a few days later. 60 Minutes Australia: Louise Woodward, Nine Network 2022
What followed was an astonishing trial the outcome of which remains as disputed today as it was 25 years ago. ibid.
Is Louise Woodward a killer nanny or the victim of flawed justice? ibid.
6th October 1997: After 8 months in custody, Louise Woodward’s trial began in Boston, Massachusetts. ibid. caption
Louise Woodward was the first British person whose trial was shown live on British television. ibid.
The defence faced an uphill battle and their case rested on complicated science. ibid.
‘They pick out four names to be alternate jurors and all four of those jurors that we were targeting became alternates; all four were gone.’ ibid. Scheck
‘Louise Woodward guilty of second-degree murder.’ ibid. TV report
The trial was over but the media coverage remained unrelenting. ibid.
Manslaughter, and she walks. ibid. The Boston Globe front page
WORTH, DOUGLAS: Crime Stories TV -
May 8th 1988 2 a.m.: Undercover police in Ontario follow a rented car on a series of isolated gravel roads. After daybreak, inside a section of woods, they find evidence of one of Canada’s most brutal murders. Crime Stories s1e6: The Pictou Sadist, TruTV
Worth begins making more confessions. He speaks openly to his sister … Douglas Worth is placed under surveillance … He is now in possession of crucial evidence: the human remains of a murder victim. ibid.
‘He had a look quite frankly of evil about him.’ ibid. rozzer
WORGAN, GEORGE: Meet, Marry, Murder TV -
Two young children are expected home from school but the parents are nowhere to be seen. And there’s an ominous note at the bottom of the stairs. What greeted police as they enter the house will shock friends and family. Meet, Marry, Murder s1e13, Netflix 2022
WRIGHT, AMBER et al: Killer Women with Piers Morgan TV -
‘15-year-old Seath Jackson was beaten, shot and burned at a Summerfield home Sunday.’ Killer Women with Piers Morgan s2e2: Amber Wright, news, ITV 2017
In 2011, 15-year-old Amber Wright took part in the murder of her ex-boyfriend Seath Jackson. Investigators believe Amber was the mastermind. ibid. caption
‘We made the decision to try them as adults.’ ibid. prosecutor
WRIGHT, ERNEST: When Life Means Life TV - Mail online - Crimes that Shook Britain TV -
Wright was in and out of court and soon graduated from approved schools to Borstal. When Life Means Life IV, CI 2020
Ernest Wright forced Ruth to watch as her husband’s body was burnt on a bonfire. ibid.
After serving twenty-six years behind bars Wright was a free man. Wright returned to his home town of Bradford. ibid.
A brutal double shooting ... Craig Freear regained consciousness. ibid.
His manipulation of a vulnerable woman was all too familiar. ibid.
One of forty-six who will never be released from jail. ibid.
A pensioner will spend the rest of his life behind bars after carrying out a shotgun execution 38 years after murdering another man.
Ernest Wright, 68, had served 26 years in prison for a 1971 killing when he was freed on life licence in 1999.
Despite his release he continued to mix in criminal circles and carried out several night-time burglaries, police said.
Then, in March last year, he gunned down Neville Corby, 42, after bursting into his home in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
Wearing a balaclava he twice reloaded his shotgun as he fired six shots at Mr Corby and his intended target, Craig Freear, 31, whom he had a long-standing feud with.
Today, after being convicted by a jury of murder, the family of his latest victim insisted that he should never have been released from prison. Mail online article 30th March 2010
The murder of Neville Corby had been so brazen it had surprised even the senior police officers. Crimes that Shook Britain s7e1: Wrongly Released, CI 2017
Ernest Wright … While he [Trevor Hale] was asleep he [Wright] took an iron bar and beat him to death; he [Wright] then built a bonfire, put Trevor on top, poured engine oil over him then went back to Aylesbury, picked up Ruth, drove her to the scene, he then set the bonfire off, and made Ruth stand there and watch her husband being murdered. ibid.
WRIGHT, SHERRA: Commercial Appeal online - People Magazine Investigates TV -
She pleaded guilty for the sake of her children, Sherra Wright told the Commercial Appeal Thursday afternoon.
And the six children are standing by their mother, said Loren Wright, the oldest daughter of Sherra and NBA star and Memphian Lorenzen Wright.
‘I never thought I’d see myself being charged with a murder or any of that, but I do understand that the lifestyle that I was living – or the lifestyle I was pulled into pretty much – this is one of the things that the type of lifestyle brings about: Murder, death, demise,’ Sherra Wright said. ‘So many different things I could say. Wickedness, evil, lies, secrecy, abuse.’