Angela Cannings leaving the Court of Appeal in London with husband Terry (left). DA4560P08AFTER 20 months in prison away from her husband and daughter, Angela Cannings left the Court of Appeal a free woman last week.

The Salisbury mother looked overwhelmed as the judges said they had come to the clear conclusion that her convictions for murdering her two baby boys were unsafe and would, accordingly, be quashed.

It had taken them just four minutes to reach their decision.

In the public gallery, her husband, Terry (49), punched the air and shouted, "Yes", and there were more cheers from family and friends who had been in court throughout the five-day appeal.

Mrs Cannings (40), of Waterloo Road, was wrongly convicted last April for smothering her seven-week-old son, Jason, in June 1991, and four-month-old Matthew in November, 1999.

She had swayed in the dock as the original verdict was given and sobbed helplessly as Mrs Justice Heather Hallett, at Winchester Crown Court, handed her a double life sentence.

But last week, clutching her husband's hand and fighting back tears as she stood outside the Court of Appeal, Mrs Cannings said she had never given up hope that she would be released.

"On the 12th of November, 1999, we lost our precious son Matthew, after having previously lost our precious Gemma and Jason," said Mrs Cannings, whose surviving daughter cannot be named for legal reasons.

"We thought we had been through enough heartbreak but then there was a police investigation, a trial and a conviction.

"These last four years have been a living hell.

"Finally, today, justice has been done and my innocence has been proved."

Mrs Cannings thanked her legal team, for working tirelessly on her case, her family and friends, members of the public who had sent letters of support, fellow inmates who she said had believed in her, and staff at Salisbury District Hospital.

She said: "There are two special people in my life - my husband, Terry, who has stood by me and always believed in my innocence. He is my soulmate.

"And our very precious daughter, who, over these last four years, has been our inspiration to carry on.

"I would like now to go home with Terry and for me, especially, to be 'Mummy' to our very precious daughter."

Mrs Cannings always maintained that her boys had died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or cot death, and could not understand why they had been taken from her.

The death of her first child, Gemma, at the age of 13 weeks in 1989, was recorded as Sids.