ON 16 OCTOBER, 1995 Audrey Edmunds was minding a neighbour’s, 7-month-old daughter Natalie at her home in Wisconsin in the US.

Edmunds had left Natalie alone in a bedroom for half an hour, but when she came back the child appeared to be choking and was unresponsive.

Emergency services were called, however by then Natalie’s condition had deteriorated and she died soon after.

An autopsy revealed extensive brain damage, and a forensic pathologist determined the cause of death to be shaken baby syndrome.

Edmunds was later convicted of murder. A court ruled that she had killed Natalie by shaking her to death.

Shaken baby syndrome (also known as abusive head trauma) is a term used to describe a number of conditions which when taken together are thought to show that a baby has been violently shaken.

Diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome has been the determining factor in a large number…