A woman once dubbed “Australia’s worst female serial killer” has been granted a pardon and dramatically freed from prison after 20 years, with officials accepting there are doubts about whether she had killed her four children.
Kathleen Folbigg, now 55, was two decades into a 25-year sentence after being convicted of the murder of her daughters Sarah and Laura and son Patrick, and the manslaughter of another son, Caleb. All four died suddenly between 1989 and 1999, aged between 19 days and 19 months. Prosecutors had alleged that Folbigg had smothered them, although scientists now believe there is evidence that they may have died of natural causes. Folbigg has always maintained her innocence.
