Serial baby killer Kathleen Folbigg loses last-ditch bid to contest convictions

Kathleen Folbigg with her daughter Sarah. Photo / News Ltd

An Australian court has knocked back a last-ditch bid from jailed mother Kathleen Folbigg to contest her 2003 convictions for killing her four infants.

The NSW Court of Appeal today upheld the findings of a recent inquiry that concluded Folbigg's guilt was reinforced, not diminished, by a review of the evidence.

Folbigg, who appeared via video link from prison, did not react as her latest bid to fight the convictions was knocked back in a matter of seconds.

She has been imprisoned for 18 years and maintains her innocence. An increasingly prominent group of people argue she has been the victim of an extraordinary miscarriage of justice.

The latest court blow comes just weeks after 90 scientists and doctors petitioned NSW Governor Margaret Beazley to pardon Folbigg based on new medical evidence suggesting her two daughters may have died of natural causes.

Folbigg was convicted in 2003 of murdering her babies Patrick, Sarah and Laura, and of the manslaughter of her 19-day-old son Caleb over a decade, starting in 1989.

Kathleen Folbigg leaving court in 2004 after being refused bail. Photo / Getty Images

In 2019, former District Court judge Reginald Blanch heard an inquiry into Folbigg's convictions, ordered by NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman.

After considering whether new medical developments pointed to Folbigg's exoneration, Blanch concluded the inquiry reinforced her guilt.

Folbigg then asked the Court of Appeal to review Blanch's findings, arguing at the hearing he had made several errors.

Justices John Basten, Mark Leeming and Paul Brereton upheld Blanch's findings today.

Laura, left, and Sarah Folbigg. Photo / News Ltd

The scientific evidence about a genetic abnormality carried by Folbigg, Sarah and Laura was not at odds with the inquiry's conclusions, they wrote.

The evidence raised the "theoretical possibility that there were innocent explanations for the deaths of the two girls".

But it had to be considered against other evidence suggesting the deaths of the two girls were "outliers", not comparable to other deaths linked to the genetic mutation.

The scientific evidence and Folbigg's diary entries, taken together, provided an "ample basis" for Blanch to conclude there was no reasonable doubt hanging over Folbigg's guilt, they wrote.

Caleb Folbigg was just 19 days old when he died in February 1989. Photo / News Corp Australia

The judges noted their job was only to consider whether any legal errors were made in the inquiry, not to determine Folbigg's guilt.

Folbigg was ordered to pay the Attorney-General's costs.