Boston - Jailed British au pair, Louise Woodward (19), might learn today whether she will spend the next 15 years or more in prison as a convicted murderer. If Judge Hiller Zobel announces his decision on defence moves to quash or alter the conviction, Woodward will be told at Framingham jail outside Boston, Massachusetts, where she is serving her sentence. But Woodward, from Elton, near Chester, could still face a long period in custody in the grim women's prison, even if the judge rules in her favour in his decision, which is to be released on the Internet.
To free her immediately the judge would have to take the extraordinary step of ruling that no reasonable person could have found her guilty of the second-degree murder of ninemonth-old Matthew Eappen, after regarding the prosecution evidence in its most favourable light. The defence has also asked the judge either to reduce the charge to manslaughter, or to order a new trial. Last night, her parents, Gary and Susan Woodward, went on US television to thank those who have been campaigning for a reversal of the verdict during the past week.