Rapid Responses to:

NEWS ROUNDUP: Clare Dyer Media’s treatment of Roy Meadow was "unfair," says High Court judge BMJ 2006; 332: 196-a [Full text]

Rapid Responses: Submit a response to this article

Rapid Responses published:

Reforming an antiquated legal system

Penny Mellor   (28 January 2006)

Where law ends, tyranny begins

John Hopkins   (4 February 2006)

Reforming an antiquated legal system 28 January 2006
Penny Mellor, DARETOCARE1@aol.com Home Wv9 5HX Send response to journal: Re: Reforming an antiquated legal system	So Professor Meadow got a raw deal in the press, touche, so did Mrs Clark both during her trial and upon conviction "House of Death" was the headline in one tabloid front page, with every detail of the Clark's lives gone over in salcious detail. Of course those headlines didn't affect her husband's career, nor will they affect her son when he is old enough to understand what went on in the first five years of his life will they? Justice Collins is right when he says we don't know what convicted Mrs Clark-the secrecy surrounding jury decisions is an antiquated law that needs repealling-there is no rhyme or reason in this day and age why a jury can't anonymously give written reasons for conviction or acquittal to the trial judge, this could then be made available to the legal teams for both the prosecution or the defence. The legal equivalant manifests itself daily in the secret family courts-no public scrutiny of the evidence presented, no public scrutiny of a jury's ability to understand complex medical testimony-that's how miscarriages happen. One thing I do know, as a matter of common sense, is this, if I was a jury member, an ordinary member of the public and I have been swamped with complex legal argument and scientific evidence and an emminent highly respected doctor who has a knighthood as well as a professorship stands up and makes a statement that I do understand, like 73 million to one chance of two babies dying of natural causes in a family such as the Clarks, that statement is going to have alot of bearing on how I perceive the accused and how I come to a decision about their guilt or innocence and you would have to be a fool if you didn't ackowledge the weight which would have been given to the evidence presented by Prof Meadow. Competing interests: Campaigner against false allegations of child abuse
Where law ends, tyranny begins 4 February 2006
John Hopkins, GP DL10 6SQ Send response to journal: Re: Where law ends, tyranny begins	Dear Editor, So, juries are to be encouraged, perhaps required, to give explanations for their verdicts. The better, presumably, to indict those who have been foolish enough to appear before them as expert witnesses. Of course, it is just possible that the GMC got it wrong and scapegoated Meadow in a reprehensible manner that has destroyed its credibility among doctors. We'll find out soon enough. Dr John Hopkins Competing interests: None declared