MORE than 250 cases involving parents convicted of killing their babies are to be urgently reviewed following a court judgement yesterday.

The Court of Appeal, giving reasons for its decision last month to clear Angela Cannings of murdering her two baby sons, called for a halt to prosecutions where there was a reasonable possibility that sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) or "cot death" was the cause.

In a written Parliamentary answer on the Cannings case, Attorney General Lord Goldsmith QC said he shared the unease expressed by the court on the dangers of relying solely on expert evidence when the cause of an unexplained death is in dispute.

He said that last month he asked for all cases potentially involving SIDS to be identified as quickly as possible. "To date, 258 convictions over the past ten years have been identified involving the murder, manslaughter or infanticide of an infant aged under two years of age by its parent.

"These cases will be considered further as a matter of urgency to establish whether they bear the hallmarks of a conviction which the Court of Appeal judgement today has indicated may be unsafe."

Such cases could be referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission or the Court of Appeal.

Lord Goldsmith added: "I am particularly concerned about cases where the defendant has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment which is still being served.

"We have so far identified 54 such cases which may involve SIDS. These will be accorded the highest priority.

"I have also asked the Crown Prosecution Service to conduct a review of the 15 ongoing cases involving an unexplained infant death."

Mrs Cannings, 40, was convicted at Winchester Crown Court in 2002 of smothering seven-week-old Jason in 1991 and 18-week-old Matthew in 1999.

Her appeal centred on arguments that the jury was faced with the impossible task of weighing up conflicting expert evidence given by eminent paediatricians on each side who disagreed over the cause of death.