Lacing tea with poison and slipping arsenic in to soup, this is what comes to mind we talk of murderesses of the Victorian age. Fuelled by a rumor-driven press and cases of notorious killers like Marry Ann Cotton, the 'Angel of Death', or Christiana Edmunds, the 'Chocolate Cream Killer', death by poisoning was a great anxiety of Victorian Britain. But what about those women who were wrongly convicted? What about the suspects who fell victim of a biased jury and unrelenting press? In Misjudged Murderesses , Stephen Jakobi takes a forensic approach to examine the trials of six women falsely sentenced for crimes they didn't commit. With the aid of primary sources, and in two cases the ready assistance of descendants and local journalists, the validity of their convictions is questioned. Highlighting common factors in poisoning cases that led to ostensible miscarriages of justice, Jakobi shines a light on a flawed and inconsistent legal system.

When the Court of Appeal allowed the appeals of the Birmingham Six for the murder of 21 people in 1974, and set them free after 16yrs in prison, the judges said that nothing obliged or entitled them to say whether they thought that the 6 men were innocent. It is exclusively the jury's function to decide guilt or innocence. Judges in the appeal court are under a duty merely to say whether the conviction was wrongful or not. The presumption of innocence, which every accused is entitled to, abides until it has been overcome by evidence which convinces the jury of the guilt of the accused. Any conviction which is quashed on appeal does not revive the presumption. This book puts the record straight about the most famous criminal case in 'recent' British legal history, explaining to both legal and non-legal readers how many people misunderstand our criminal justice system, and how the supporters of those wrongfully convicted tend to persuade the British public that justice has indeed 'miscarried'. The author puts the case for an unbiased perspective on the trial of the Birmingham Six and other appeals, highlighting the true value of circumstantial evidence and pointing out how such evidence is so often preferable to the fallibility of eye-witness testimony. He also includes a European dimension. Finally, he questions whether the jury system itself can survive contemporary society. With Diary of Events, Appendix, Notes and Index.