REPORTER PAUL WATSON;
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"A BABYSITTER wrongly jailed for the murder of a two-year-old boy is calling on police watchdogs to investigate the Cleveland force's handling of the case," the Hartlepool Mail reports in a story by reporter Paul Watson published on January 16, 2009 under the heading "Wrongly-convicted mum calls for probe."
"Suzanne Holdsworth has urged the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to probe the way the force carried out the investigation into the death of two-year-old Kyle Fisher," the story begins;
"She was jailed for life in 2005 after being convicted of murdering the youngster by banging his head against a wooden banister while minding him at her home in Millpool Close, Hartlepool, the previous summer," it continues;
"After new medical evidence was unearthed the Court of Appeal quashed her conviction in May last year and ordered a re-trial during which she was unanimously cleared by a jury at Teesside Crown Court just before Christmas.
The 38-year-old babysitter and long-term partner Lee Spencer, also 38, have highlighted a number of areas which they claim Cleveland Police failed to investigate properly.
Mum and grandmother Miss Holdsworth, who wrongly spent three years in jail, and Mr Spencer, who now live in Seacroft, Leeds, have lodged a formal complaint with the IPCC and are demanding an investigation is opened into the police handling of the murder inquiry.
The IPCC confirmed that the complaint had been received from Mr Spencer and as part of the initial process it had been forwarded to police for consideration.
A IPCC spokesman said: "A complaint has been received which has been forwarded to Cleveland Police and Cleveland Police Authority. There are various avenues for this complaint to go down."
Mr Spencer said: "We have always believed it was a flawed investigation. We are hoping that an inquiry will stop any other family having to go through what we have had to endure through a flawed police investigation.
"Suzanne spent three years in prison for a crime that never happened thanks to the original investigations by Cleveland Police."
Cleveland Police Chief Constable Sean Price recently issued a lengthy statement in which he said his officers had acted "diligently"and "professionally".
A spokesman for Cleveland Police Authority said: "The Independent Police Complaints Commission has informed us of a complaint relating to the investigation into the murder of Kyle Fisher and a recent statement to the media by the chief constable.
"The authority will now begin the process of considering the complaint in accordance with the Police Reform Act 2002.""
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;