Networked Knowledge - Media Report

[This edited version of the report has been prepared by Dr Robert N Moles]

UK homepage
Prisons homepage
Article: Australian law on miscarriages of justice
Article: UK law on miscarriages of justice
Article: USA law on miscarriages of justice

On 3 March 2007 John Steele of the Daily Telegraph reported "Couple cleared of toddler's salt death”.

He said that a couple were cleared today of poisoning a three-year-old boy they had hoped to adopt with salt. Ian and Angela Gay were found not guilty by a jury in a re-trial granted after their original conviction for manslaughter was quashed. Their ordeal began when Christian Blewitt collapsed at their luxury home in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, in December 2002. He died four days later and tests showed an abnormally high level of sodium in his blood. The couple were cleared of murder in 2005 but convicted of manslaughter and were jailed. After 15 months in prison they were freed on bail when the Court of Appeal overturned the verdict and ordered a retrial on charges of manslaughter and cruelty. Today, at Nottingham Crown Court, they were cleared by a jury of both counts, in a case in which the prosecution claimed the couple had force-fed Christian up to six full teaspoons of salt as a punishment for being naughty.

The defence called expert witnesses who suggested that Christian may have suffered from a rare medical condition which meant his body retained sodium. The Court of Appeal had heard evidence that Christian may have suffered from a rare condition know as a "reset osmostat", which causes the body to retain sodium. On Dec 8 2002, Christian fell ill at the home the Gays then lived in, at Greyfriars Drive, Bromsgrove. In police interviews, Ian Gay, 39, said the three-year-old had been misbehaving, refusing to eat his lunch. The couple left him alone as they thought he was simply seeking attention, but soon heard a crash and discovered Christian had thrown his lunch on the floor. Ian Gay told police he thought Christian had been laughing at him, and had put him to bed as a punishment. Later, the Gays found Christian comatose in the bedroom and took him to Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley.

He was floppy and unresponsive and doctors immediately put him in intensive care, where life support was withdrawn four days later. Tests revealed high sodium levels in his body and a post mortem examination showed eleven separate areas of bruising on the top of his head. The Crown alleged they had manhandled the child. The couple hugged each other in the dock as the foreman read out the not guilty verdicts. Angela Gay, 40, read a short statement: "We have waited for years for this moment and finally justice has been done. We would like to thank our family, friends, and legal team."

Their solicitor, William Bache, said: "They have been through hell for years, including time in prison when both were threatened and abused. The worst of it was that Christian died. That is an enormous tragedy. Mr and Mrs Gay have lost the opportunity to rear the family they very much wished to have." Mr Bache added that they were "very sensitive, family-oriented people", who had been very hurt by having names like "child killer" thrown at them. However, the Crown Prosecution Service’s lawyer, Charles Hardy, said after the verdicts: "The Court of Appeal heard fresh medical evidence, quashed the conviction for manslaughter and ordered a retrial. It did not criticise the CPS for bringing this case. In the light of the new medical evidence, we believe we were right to place it before a jury for the second time."

Ian and Angela Gay were a successful, wealthy couple who lived in a five-bedroom detached house in an gated community in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. They drove a Lotus sports car and owned a 30ft yacht. Angela Gay earned enough money as a high-flying actuary for her husband to give up his job in engineering and become a house-husband. She had been aware from an early age that a medical condition meant she could never have children of her own and after an eight-month vetting process, Christian and two siblings, who had all been taken into the care of Sandwell Social Services when their teenage mother was unable to cope with them, were placed with the Gays for a 13-week trial, in November 2002. He fell ill half way through the trial period.

Top of Page