'Heartbroken' couple jailed for son's death set to appeal

When Ian and Angela Gay were convicted of the salt poisoning of three-year-old Christian Blewitt, they were portrayed as a cold-hearted and ambitious couple who deliberately killed a child they had planned to adopt because he did not fit their ideal stereotype.

When Ian and Angela Gay were convicted of the salt poisoning of three-year-old Christian Blewitt, they were portrayed as a cold-hearted and ambitious couple who deliberately killed a child they had planned to adopt because he did not fit their ideal stereotype.

Now, just weeks after the jury delivered its manslaughter verdict at Worcester Crown Court, doubts are being raised about the reliability of the convictions and the case is being compared to that of Angela Cannings and Sally Clark, who both had convictions for killing their children quashed.

Questions are being raised as to why the prosecution went ahead after the appeal judgment in the Cannings case, which said such cases should not reach court when experts disagree on the medical evidence. In the Gay case, 32 scientists and other experts testified, including two prosecution witnesses who could not agree on the basic question of the level of salt in the body.

The Gays, who are serving five-year prison terms, have engaged a new team of lawyers who worked on the Clark and Cannings cases to prepare an appeal against conviction.

In a telephone call from prison to a Midlands television station this week, Mr Gay said the couple "loved Christian" and were "heartbroken" at his death, for which they had been unable to grieve.

The couple are being assisted by Penny Mellor, who campaigns against unsubstantiated allegations of child abuse and who said: "I have never seen such a terrible case of wrongful conviction. I cannot believe the jury convicted them but with all the conflicting evidence they must have been completely confused."

The Gays had planned to adopt Christian and his two siblings, a 10-month-old sister and two-year-old brother, and moved to Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, where they bought a five-bedroom house to raise the children. Mr Gay, 38, an electrical engineer, was to become a house-husband while his wife, a £200,000-a-year actuary, became the main breadwinner.

The couple specified that they did not want a sick child, in order that the care of the others was not affected. Their family say that the state of Christian's health was kept from them by social services. He was born six weeks prematurely to a mother with a drug problem, suffered from neglect and had been in hospital eight times during his first year. He was diagnosed with mild hydrocephalus, a brain condition which can lead to high sodium levels in the body.

Social workers told the Gays, in a comment which only achieved significance later, that his natural mother had "given him too much salt", and the couple noticed that he liked salty foods. At one point he became unresponsive, leading Mr Gay to contact social services to say he had become "zombie-like". This was used later by the Crown in court to suggest an uncaring attitude.

Five weeks after being handed over to the Gays, Christian was taken to hospital after becoming "floppy". The couple were arrested a few days later after being told that they were responsible for the high sodium levels in his body and a series of head injuries. Christian died in Birmingham Children's Hospital; they were not allowed to attend his funeral and were later charged with murder.

In court, the prosecution portrayed them as a high-earning couple who had wanted "perfect" children and had punished Christian for throwing a tantrum by force-feeding him salt. The fact that Mrs Gay had returned to work while he was in hospital - for which she had good reasons - was also used against them.

With no direct evidence that the couple had forced salt down the child, the case hinged on the expert witnesses. Dr Neil McLellan, a hospital consultant, said the sodium levels could be as high as four teaspoons, while Dr Robert Forrest, a forensic toxicologist, put the level as no more than one teaspoon, or about 10.4g. A packet of crisps, which the boy had eaten that morning, contains about 6.4g. Another expert said high levels of salt were unlikely because less was coming out in Christian's urine than was going in through the hospital drip.

Although there were suggestions of an underlying illness - Christian had suffered an unexplained heart attack at some point around his admission to hospital - this was never settled during the case because of a lack of accurate medical records on his early life. The charge of murder was later reduced to manslaughter after it became apparent the head injuries were likely to have been caused during his hospital treatment.

Carl Swain, Mrs Gay's brother, said the family were "devastated" by the convictions. "They are bearing up as well as they can in prison, but they still do not understand how and why they were ever prosecuted. They have done nothing wrong.''