NSW Attorney-General, Michael Daley, has announced that Kathleen Folbigg will be released from prison immediately, after he received a report from NSW chief justice Tom Bathurst KC on Friday stating that there is "reasonable double as to Ms Folbigg's guilt".
Daley said that he took the weekend to weigh up Bathurst's preliminary findings and said that his reasons "established exceptional circumstances" that led him to recommend Folbigg's pardoning and release.
The announcement follows an intense campaign from experts and lawyers to release Folbigg following the findings of an inquiry that ended in April.
Back in 2003, Folbigg was handed a 25-year minimum sentence after being found guilty of three counts of murder and one of manslaughter over the deaths of her four children.
She has always maintained her innocence, claiming her babies - Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura - died of natural causes between 1989 and 1999.
Rare genetic variants later identified in Folbigg and her daughters triggered an inquiry into her conviction not long after a 2019 examination. An inquiry into her convictions began last year and finished in April this year.
The CALM2-G114R variant impacting the calcium-binding calmodulin protein was found to be a "reasonably possible cause" of Sarah and Laura's deaths, according to cardiology and genetics experts.
Myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, was another possible cause of Laura's death. Patrick may have died from a neurogenetic disorder, which could have hospitalised him before his death, experts told the inquiry.
The inquiry was told the cause of Caleb's death at 19 days remains undetermined.
Watch: Is Kathleen Folbigg innocent? Post continues below.
The big news today comes after a lawyer for Folbigg compared her case with that of Lindy Chamberlain.
In closing submissions at the inquiry into the 55-year-old's convictions, her lawyer said Ms Chamberlain's conviction and eventual exoneration had come about in part due to the presentation of new evidence.
Ms Chamberlain was also "widely and publicly condemned" over her purported failure to show grief after telling authorities her daughter Azaria was taken by a dingo in 1980. Ms Chamberlain and her husband Michael were convicted over the killing before eventually being exonerated after a series of inquiries.
In November 2022, the inquiry heard evidence from cardiac and genetic experts.
In February of this year, the second hearing block resumed, which examined the remaining medical evidence, as well as evidence from Folbigg's diaries. There was also evidence presented from forensic pathologists, a neurologist, and a leading paediatrics expert who discredited some of the evidence that was used to convict Folbigg.
In April, we saw the closing statements - including a statement provided by a member representing the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, which admitted there was evidence that suggested Folbigg's lawyer could conclude there was a reasonable doubt to Folbigg's conviction.
Listen to Mia Freedman speak to Jane Hansen, the Sunday Telegraph's senior reporter and the host of the podcast Mother's Guilt - which examines Kathleen Folbigg's case. Post continues after audio.
In addition to this, Folbigg's lawyer had said there was now a significant body of evidence to suggest Folbigg's children had died of natural causes.
These comments pointed to the possibility that Folbigg could be exonerated for the crimes.
As for the evidence used to suggest Folbigg's guilt in previous trials, her lawyer said some facts had become less important with the presentation of new evidence. Additionally, Folbigg's journal entries were presented as admissions in the circumstantial case in the original trial.
Lead counsel assisting the inquiry, Sophie Callan SC said that the expert psychological evidence "uniformly indicates that it would be unreliable to interpret the entries in this way". Folbigg consistently explained to police and a previous inquiry that the entries reflected feelings of failure as a mother after the deaths of her children, rather than an admission of guilt.
With all this in mind, Callan said: "On the whole of the body of evidence before this inquiry there is a reasonable doubt as to Ms Folbigg's guilt."
In late April it was noted that former NSW chief justice Tom Bathurst KC - who was appointed to head the inquiry - would report to the governor on whether to exercise the royal prerogative of mercy, a power the Department of Communities and Justice describes as "rare and exceptional".
In May, a group of senior legal academics from New South Wales and Victoria wrote to the NSW attorney-general, urging him to immediately release Folbigg from prison.
The signatories said "there is substantial agreement . that the expert evidence supports a finding of natural causes for the children's death".
Overall, Folbigg has served 20 years of her 30-year prison sentence.
More to come.
With AAP.
Feature Image: AAP.