Tributes are paid to Sally Clark

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The family of Sally Clark - the solicitor wrongly jailed for murdering her two sons - have paid tribute to her after she was found dead at her home.

They described her as a "loving and talented wife, mother, daughter and friend" who would be "greatly missed".

Angela Cannings, who was also wrongly convicted of killing two of her sons, said she was "shocked" by the death.

Mrs Clark, 42, was found dead at her home in Chelmsford, Essex, on Friday. The cause of death is not yet known.

A family statement said Mrs Clark "never fully recovered" from the effects of the "appalling miscarriage of justice" she suffered, which saw her spend three years in jail.

The statement also said the matter of her death was in the hands of the coroner and it was too early to provide any further information.

'Very vulnerable'

Mrs Cannings and Mrs Clark were housed in the same wing of a prison in Essex.

What I'm shocked and stunned about is she went through one tragedy. Now there's another Angela Cannings <a class="" href="/1/hi/uk/6460669.stm">Obituary: Sally Clark</a>

Mrs Cannings, 42, said: "I'm really speechless, I'm so angry. This lady suffered so much, now she's died - I'm just shocked and stunned."

Mrs Clark had experienced problems since being released, she added.

"She had found it increasingly difficult to accept what had happened to her. She was very vulnerable.

"What I'm shocked and stunned about is she went through one tragedy. Now there's another."

"My heart goes out to the Clark family and we do send our condolences."

Mrs Clark was jailed in 1999 for killing her 11-week-old son Christopher in December 1996 and eight-week-old Harry in January 1998.

A first appeal against the convictions failed in 2000 but she was freed in 2003 after a fresh appeal.

'Unwise to speculate'

Mrs Clark, who was originally from Wilmslow in Cheshire but was living in Essex at the time of her death, was convicted of smothering Christopher and shaking Harry to death at the home she shared with her husband Stephen.

Three Court of Appeal judges eventually decided that her conviction was "unsafe".

Professor Sir Roy Meadow was criticised after Mrs Clark's trial

Professor Sir Roy Meadow, giving evidence during her trial, claimed the probability of two natural unexplained cot deaths in a family was 73 million-to-one.

The Royal Statistical Society and other medical experts disputed the figure and said the odds of a second cot death in a family were around 200-to-one.

The Court of Appeal had been told that new medical evidence which suggested Harry Clark may have been suffering from a brain infection was withheld from Mrs Clark's defence team during her trial.

Microbiological test results demonstrated Harry probably died suddenly in reaction to the bacteria, the court was told.