I’m not a baby killer so why am I still being punished?

A mum who spent four years in jail after being wrongly convicted of killing her baby is launching a compensation battle.

Jennifer Walker, 50, was freed three years ago when an appeal judge ruled she had not received a fair trial after a misdirection by the original trial judge.

During her time in Cornton Vale prison, Jennifer claims she was targeted by some of Scotland’s most notorious female criminals, including the late ‘Big’ Mags Haney.

Despite losing everything, including her home, family and friends, Jennifer had always been reluctant to seek compensation as she just wanted to leave her tortured past behind.

But she claims she has not been allowed to get on with her life as her trial keeps being dragged up. She says she has even been assaulted by strangers and endured attacks on her home.

She recently lost her job in a charity shop after an argument with an ex-neighbour accused her of being a ‘baby killer’ in front of staff and customers.

Jennifer, of Musselburgh in East Lothian, said: “My life has been ruined. I didn’t want compensation. I just wanted to get on with my life and start afresh, but I’m not being allowed to.

“So I feel I’m due compensation now. By launching a claim it might show the public that I’m innocent. I might have been cleared by the courts, but not by the public and that’s something you can’t put a price on.

“I feel very alone now. Sometimes I wonder if it’s worthwhile carrying on.”

People seeking compensation from the Miscarriage of Justice scheme have up to three years to lodge a claim, meaning Jennifer has until this April to put one forward.

The divorcee was jailed in 2006 for the culpable homicide of seven-month-old Jacqueline in 1982. Crucial evidence in her trial came from disgraced paediatrician Prof Roy Meadows who was instrumental in the convictions of Angela Cannings and Sally Clarke. Both women were jailed for killing their babies, but later freed.

Three years ago, judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh ruled that mum-of-three Jennifer had suffered a miscarriage of justice at her trial. They said the judge had failed to properly explain to the jury some of the complex medical and legal issues involved.

When baby Jacqueline died, a post mortem blamed cot death, caused by pneumonia. But the case was reopened when it emerged the tot had been taken to hospital five times in the last weeks of her life because her mum said she kept ‘turning blue’ and later investigations caused some medics to question the post mortem findings. They said that signs of bleeding in the baby’s lungs might have been the result of interference with her breathing.

The case was reopened in 2001 and Jennifer was put on trial and jailed for 10 years in 2006 after being found guilty of culpable homicide. Her sentence was later cut to seven.

She served four years before being released on bail pending her appeal. During her time in jail she says she was abused and attacked by other inmates.

Jennifer said: “As a convicted baby killer, I was a prime target for ‘punishment’. It seemed to be the ‘lifers’ who targeted me. Presumably, they thought they had nothing to lose.

“But ‘Big’ Mags seemed to target me more than most. She called me a ‘beast’. She controlled gangs of prisoners. One day I was attacked by about thirty of them. They spat in my food. Once, I went six weeks without eating.

“At other times they would throw boiling water at me. It was always done when the wardens were not around.

“At night they would sing about ‘killing the beast’. It was terrifying.”

During her time in jail, Jennifer maintained her innocence and her case was taken up by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. This led to her case being referred to the Court of Appeal and her subsequent acquittal.

However life has been a nightmare for Jennifer since her release. When she was freed she moved to Galashiels, but it was not long before she became a target.

She explained: “Someone scrawled ‘Baby Killer’ and ‘Beast’ in large black and red letters on my walls.

“Another time I was in the supermarket and a man tripped me on the escalator. He stood over me and said: ‘I hope your fingers get ripped off. That’s what happens to mums who kill their babies’.

“He was a total stranger.”

Fearing she would never be allowed to settle into a quiet life in Scotland, she moved to her boyfriend‘s home city of Newcastle. But she missed her daughter Pamela too much and moved back to Musselburgh in November 2012 and got the job in the charity shop.

She said: “Losing my job because of my past has set me back so far. I don’t feel free. I’m still being branded a baby killer despite being completely cleared.

“I don’t know how my life has turned out like this living nightmare. I’m a good person.

“I go to my bed every night and ask myself: “Why am I still being punished?”