Kathleen Folbigg

Kathleen Megan Folbigg (née Donovan; born 14 June 1967) is an Australian woman who was found guilty in 2003 of murdering her four infant children.

She was pardoned in 2023 after 20 years in jail following a long campaign for justice by her supporters, and had her convictions overturned on appeal a few months later.

No direct evidence of the imputed crimes was ever found, but in the personal diary discovered by her husband and dutifully handed over to the police, several entries seemed to suggest she might have harmed, and indeed murdered, her children.

On 8 January 1969, Kathleen Folbigg's biological father, Thomas John "Taffy" Britton, murdered her mother, Kathleen May Donovan, by stabbing her 24 times.

Kathleen was 18 months old.

Her father was arrested the day after the murder, and would go on to serve 15 years in prison for murder before being deported to England.

Folbigg was made a ward of the state and placed into foster care with a couple.

On 18 July 1970, she was removed from their care and placed into Bidura Children's Home.

Two months later, Folbigg moved into a permanent foster care placement.

Here she also met her foster sister, Lea Bown.

This arrangement lasted until she was a young adult.

She left school at the age of fifteen, and married Craig Gibson Folbigg in 1987, a marriage that was to end in 2000 with a divorce.

The Folbigg couple had four children, but one child after another died in early infancy.

Caleb Gibson Folbigg, born on 1 February 1989, was known to breathe noisily and was diagnosed by a paediatrician to be suffering from a mild case of laryngomalacia, something he would eventually outgrow; he was otherwise born healthy.

On 20 February, Caleb died in his sleep, in a room adjoining his parents' bedroom.

During the night, Caleb stirred from midnight until 2 a.m. Found by Folbigg, the death was attributed to Sudden infant death syndrome.

Caleb was 19 days old.

Patrick Allen Folbigg was born on 3 June 1990.

Craig remained at home to help care for his wife and baby for three months after the birth.

On 18 October, Folbigg put Patrick to bed.

Craig was awakened by the sounds of his wife screaming and found her standing at the baby's cot.

He noticed the child was not breathing and attempted to revive him by cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

An ambulance was called and Patrick was taken to hospital.

He would later be diagnosed to be suffering from epilepsy and cortical blindness, though the apparent life-threatening event would go unexplained.

He died four months later (February 13, 1991) due to seizures.

On 18 February 1991, Folbigg telephoned her husband at work to report Patrick's death, saying "It's happened again!"

Following their second loss, the couple moved to Thornton, New South Wales, a suburb of Maitland.

Sarah Kathleen Folbigg was born on 14 October 1992, and died on 29 August 1993, aged 10 months.

In 1996, the couple moved to Singleton.

On 7 August 1997, Laura Elizabeth Folbigg was born.

On 27 February 1999, Laura died, at the age of 18 months.

In 1999, Kathleen Folbigg had been incriminated by her own husband, but it was not until April 2001 that she was arrested.

She was arrested in 2001 and convicted in 2003, sentenced to 40 years with a non-parole period of 30 years.

Kathleen Folbigg maintained her innocence, however, claiming the four children had died from natural causes.

Folbigg's trial lasted seven weeks in 2003.

The prosecution alleged Folbigg murdered her four children by smothering them during periods of frustration.

Scientific and medical research suggesting the daughters might indeed have died of natural causes was rejected by a judicial inquiry in 2019.

Subsequent research published in 2020 led ninety eminent Australian scientists and medical professionals, in March 2021, to petition the NSW Governor to pardon Folbigg.

The petition succinctly demonstrated that all four deaths could be explained as the effects of very rare genetic factors.

On 5 June 2023, Folbigg was unconditionally pardoned by NSW Governor Margaret Beazley and was released from prison.