Maxine Robinson
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Maxine Robinson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1968 (age 57–58) |
| Motive | Unable to cope with her children |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 10 years (1995), increased by three years (2004) |
| Details | |
| Victims | 3 |
Span of crimes | 1989–1993 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
Date apprehended | 1995 (for two murders) |
Maxine Robinson (born 1968) is an English woman who murdered all three of her children between 1989 and 1993.[1] Convicted of murdering two of the children in 1995, Robinson unsuccessfully appealed against her convictions, claiming their deaths had been natural. In 2004, her case and many other cases of multiple cot death came up for review as potentially unsafe. However, she admitted killing them before her case could be reviewed and further revealed that she had, in 1989, murdered her first-born child, whose death until then had been considered a result of SIDS. Her trial judge observed that Robinson's case was a "timely" reminder that "not all mothers in prison for killing their children are the victims of miscarriages of justice."
In 1989, Robinson's nine-month-old daughter, Victoria, died suddenly at the family home in Pelton, near Chester-le-Street, County Durham.[2][3] The death was not considered suspicious at the time and was judged to be a cot death.[2] In 1993, both Robinson's 19-month-old daughter, Christine, and five-month-old son, Anthony, also died suddenly.[2] Suspicion fell on Robinson because she had not employed the resuscitation training she received after Victoria's death.[1] Robinson denied any wrongdoing and claimed the children also suffered cot death. Some experts called by the defense at her trial agreed with her claims that the deaths were natural,[2][4] though a Home Office pathologist testified that the deaths were consistent with suffocation. Robinson was convicted of their murders at trial in 1995 by a narrow majority verdict. She appealed against the verdict, but her conviction was upheld.[4][1]