BABY DEATH NANNY LOUISE TO BE A MUM
16 years after murder trial, au pair Woodward is expecting first child
THE British nanny who was jailed for killing a baby in her care in the US is expecting her first child.
Louise Woodward, then 18, was said to have shaken the tot in 1997.
Louise, 35, now lives in Shropshire with her businessman husband.
A pal said: “People are very protective of her. I know she’s always wanted a baby, and now it’s finally happening.”
SINCE being released from a US jail, Louise Woodward has built a new life in a sleepy village back home in Britain.
Now – 16 years after she was convicted of killing an eight-monthold boy – Louise is pregnant with her first child.
Friends say Louise, now 35, and her businessman husband Antony Elkes, 32, are delighted to be expecting a baby.
A pal said: “She looks different now – happier. She’s definitely happy. People are very protective of her. I know she’s always wanted a baby, and now it’s finally happening.”
Louise, who is due to give birth in January, was a 19-year-old nanny in the US when a jury found her guilty in 1997 of the second-degree murder of little Matthew Eappen.
Prosecutors said Louise had shaken eight-month-old Matthew to death. Despite being jailed for 15 years, Louise was released after just 279 days when she won an appeal to reduce her conviction to involuntary manslaughter.
She has always maintained her innocence, and her claims have been backed by various medical experts in recent years.
But last night Matthew’s mum, Debbie, was stunned when the Mirror broke the news that Louise was pregnant.
Debbie, an eye doctor, was clearly distraught and needed time to compose herself.
Speaking from her family home near Boston, Massachusetts, she said: “No, I didn’t know that.”
She was silent for several seconds, then added: “I’m sorry, I’m going to have to think if I want to make any comment. I didn’t know about it.”
Louise, who lives in a quiet Shropshire village on the outskirts of Bridgnorth and teaches salsa dancing, has spoken previously of being haunted by her past.
She said: “I know there are some people out there just waiting for me to have a baby so they can say nasty things. That upsets me, but that is not going to stop me leading my life. I am innocent, I have done nothing wrong. I am entitled to enjoy my life. I am not going to apologise for being happy.” Louise lived in the Cheshire village of Elton when she flew to the US in 1996 on a gap year following her A-levels. She then landed her dream job as a nanny at the Boston home of Debbie and her husband Sunny. Just 10 weeks later Matthew was dead.
Matthew was in Louise’s care when he fell unconscious. He was rushed to hospital where he died five days later from brain injuries.
The lad had suffered a fractured skull and a blood clot on the brain.
Prosecutors alleged Matthew had shown classic symptoms of shaken baby syndrome, which can happen when a baby is violently shaken.
The defence team argued the 1997 death had been caused by an injury the baby sustained weeks before.
Weeks after the verdict, a judge downgraded the conviction and the sentence was reduced to the time Louise had spent on remand.
The judge said: “The circumstances in which the defendant acted were characterised by confusion, inexperience, frustration, immaturity and some anger, but not malice in the legal sense supporting a conviction for seconddegree murder.”
Louise has now immersed herself in local life.
Despite studying as a lawyer, she runs dance classes at a village hall.
Louise has also attended cake baking courses in nearby Wolverhampton.