Childminder loses her appeal against baby-killing conviction

Appeal: Keran Henderson was found guilty of killing a baby in her care
12 April 2012

A childminder who has campaigned for five years to prove her innocence after being found guilty of shaking a baby to death today failed to overturn her conviction.

Keran Henderson, of Iver Heath, Bucks, was sentenced to three years imprisonment in 2007 for the manslaughter of 11-month-old Maeve Sheppard. She said the fatal injuries were caused when the baby had a fit as she changed her nappy.

Maeve was taken to hospital unconscious and critically ill with brain injuries and died in March 2005. Today three Appeal Court judges ruled that the jury's 10-2 verdict of guilty at Reading crown court was safe.

However, Lord Justice Moses said: "There remains the unsolved mystery of how so admired a childminder should have been responsible for the use of excessive force, even momentarily, when handling this baby."

Henderson had completed her sentence by the time her appeal was heard but neither she nor her husband Ian were in court today.

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