Mothers Who Murder
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24 The formal term for the deliberate killing of one’s own son or daughter.
CHAPTER 4
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9 Just before Ebony’s death, Dean’s body was found in the pond, and because of the significant public concern and media attention the two cases generated, they were really the stimuli for the New South Wales Government to initiate a Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in New South Wales.
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CHAPTER 5
1 More than a dentist, an odontologist studies the structure, development and abnormalities of the teeth and surrounding tissues, and a forensic odontologist undertakes analysis of the entire oral environment as part of a criminal process.
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3 An average IQ score would be somewhere in the range of 80–120.
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CHAPTER 6
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4 A chapter in Deadly Australian Women, ABC Books, 2013.
5 Nice Girl, Simon & Schuster, 2011.
6 Short for Queen’s Counsel, this is a status conferred on senior barristers by the Crown in Commonwealth countries.
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8 One more had been added since Lane’s arraignment in 2009.
9 See point 267 of the Crown’s statement:
10 This is permissible, in certain circumstances, in accordance with section 55F of the Jury Act 1977. Available from:
11 Pursuant to section 30AA of the Bail Act 1978. Available from:
12 In criminal cases, the burden of proof rests with the prosecution, who must demonstrate that the defendant is guilty before a jury may convict them..
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15 Two ten-year-old English girls who were murdered in the village of Soham, Cambridgeshire in 2002, by Kevin Huntley who was convicted of their murder and received two life sentences with a minimum term of forty years.
16 Also known as crime mapping, this is an investigative technique that uses the locations of known movements or crimes to help determine the most probable area that an offender lives or works in. Although it is generally applied in serious serial crimes, it can also be applied in single cases and could have been used here to help determine where Lane was most likely to have deposited a child’s body within the timeframe available to her,, helping to define a search area.
CHAPTER 7
1 Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria from 1991–2008 and currently Chair of the Council of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine.
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3 Interesting, these findings correspond closely with those found during the post-mortem of Sarah and Laura Folbigg (Chapter 3), the third and fourth Folbigg children to die, but in their cases SIDS was ruled out on the basis that (as put forward by the Crown) the likelihood of four children dying of SIDS in one family was astronomical.
4 For clinical information on AOM refer to:
5 Apnoea means a temporary cessation of breathing.
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7 For more information on this condition go to:
8 For clinical information on HPS refer to:
9 The VIFM operates under the auspices of the Department of Justice, reporting to Parliament through the Attorney General. For more information about the VIFM refer to:
10 More than a dentist, an odontologist studies the structure, development, and abnormalities of the teeth and surrounding tissues, and a forensic odontologist undertakes analysis of the entire oral environment as part of a criminal process.
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12 The concept of probative vs. prejudicial evidence is central to a fair trial. Probative evidence is information that is appropriately valuable to help demonstrate something important in a trial. The probative value of proposed evidence (how useful it is) has to be balanced against potential prejudice in the minds of jurors towards the defendant. An example would be a rape case where the accused has been found guilty of rape previously – the prosecution might want the judge’s permission to enter the previous conviction into evidence to demonstrate a tendency towards a particular crime. The questions the judge has to consider is: is that fair to the defendant as the jury should be weighing up the facts of that particular case, and will it unfairly prejudice them agai
nst the accused? There are times when previous convictions could be disclosed to the jury. For example, if the defendant claims untruthfully to be of good character, if the judge rules that the events of the past and present cases are ‘strikingly similar’, or if the circumstances call into question the character of a prosecution witness.
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14 Folbigg case information, including this quote, is available from:
15 Pollanen, M. S. (2005), ‘Deciding Cause of Death after Autopsy – revisited’, Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine, 12: 113-121. Available from:
16 Emphasis added by author.
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CHAPTER 8
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9 A leafy west London suburb, Ealing is London’s third largest borough with a current population of around 300,000.
10 An infestation caused by a microscopic mite that buries eggs under the skin, which then hatch into other mites. The main symptoms are pimple-like spots, a rash, or burrows under the skin that are extremely itchy. The scratching can cause sores, which can then get infected, especially if the skin is not clean; this will become relevant later when Victoria’s living conditions are discussed. More information is available from:
11 There are a lot more details associated with the workings of the social services personnel in regards to what took place when, which are all given in Lord Laming’s report and therefore not provided further here. Information is available from:
12 Normal body temperatures for children is 38 degrees Celsius; anything under 35oC would be considered dangerously low.
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14 One of the many articles covering Victoria’s death:
15 Children Act 1989 (
16 Established in 1829, now Britain’s largest police force; for more information refer to:
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24 National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
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51 The first ‘White March’ took place in Belgium in 1996, when 300,000 took to the streets in the largest protest Brussels had ever seen to raise awareness for the need for improved child protection following the arrest of child killer Marc Dutroux. Everyone who took part carried something white, or some painted their faces white, because white is the symbol for hope.
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59 A class of medicines used to treat high blood pressure, that works by decreasing heart rate and relaxing blood vessels so that blood can flow around the body more easily.
60 An extremely experienced judge, having been elected to the Supreme Court in 1985; retired in 2010.
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