Woodward to be sued by baby's parents

THE PARENTS of Matthew Eappen are due to present a civil action in the American courts against Louise Woodward, the British former au pair, who was convicted a year ago of killing their baby.

Lawyers for Sunil and Deborah Eappen said yesterday that they were suing Ms Woodward, from Elton in Cheshire, to prevent her making money from the case. They have been told to present their claim over the eight-month- old baby's manslaughter to a judge in Massachusetts on November 2.

Ms Woodward, now studying law at a London university, did not contest the civil hearing because she was unable to afford a defence, her lawyers said. She effectively defaulted the case in July when she failed to reply to the original complaint.

The Eappens' lawyer, Frederic Ellis, said: "What we really don't want to see is Louise Woodward driving around in a Rolls-Royce wearing furs. That would be the ultimate tragedy for the Eappen family."