marieclaire.com.au 53GETTY IMAGES
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t 2.30am on December 4,
1998, Lorraine Harris’ York-
shire home was quiet and still.
Clambering out of bed, the
28-year-old mother of three
made her way to her infant
son’s cot. Four-month-old
Patrick had been grizzly that
day; the family GP suspected he was getting a cold.
Harris pulled back Patrick’s cosy knitted blankets,
expecting to find her treasured boy sound asleep. But
when she saw him, she immediately knew something
was terribly wrong. Panic-stricken and crying hysteri-
cally, Harris called an ambulance. Patrick was rushed to
hospital under blue lights and the wail of sirens, but
there was nothing the doctors could do to revive him.
Wracked with grief, Harris sobbed over Patrick’s
tiny, lifeless body in a sterile hospital room. Outside
the door, police were waiting.
Post-mortem results showed that Patrick’s brain
had a combination of three injuries – his brain was
swollen, and there was bleeding behind his eyes and on
his brain – and these symptoms are widely believed to
be indicative of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS).INVESTIGATION