ITV has announced a new film based on the trial of Louise Woodward, the 19-year-old British au pair accused of the murder, by shaking, of nine-month-old baby, Matthew Eappen, in her care while she was working in the US.
The Trial of Louise Woodward (currently the film's working title) produced by Voltage TV, will mark 25 years since the 1997 trial, the highest profile court case in the US featuring a British defendant, which played out on television screens on both sides of the Atlantic.
Examining whether advances in medical science since the 1997 trial might have changed the verdict in this case, the film will also bring revealing insights from the experts for the prosecution and defence who ferociously disagreed about key facts at the time.
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Some claimed Louise had violently shaken Matthew - who died in February 1997 - in a "frustrated, unhappy and resentful rage", while others asserted his injuries were several months old.
With access to many of the key figures closest to the case - and including contributions from those who have never spoken since it ended - this film aims to illuminate each key step of the trial and its aftermath.
Louise was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 15 years to be served in October 1997.
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Her sentence was later reduced to manslaughter after the Judge reduced the conviction to involuntary manslaughter in November 1997.
Louise's sentence was reduced to time served (279 days) and she was freed. The film will shed new light on the case.
Tom Giles, ITV Controller of Current Affairs, said: "The trial of Louise Woodward made a unique impact and is still vividly remembered now, decades later.
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"This film, with its close access to the key figures involved in the case, promises to deliver an eye-opening insight into the pressures bearing down on proceedings to tell us how and why it played out as it did and how its conclusion is a continuing source of division."
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