In a consultative report, the Commission said three out of four child killers were getting away with murder because rules of evidence and procedure made it difficult to convict if a child was killed while being cared for by two people. If it was believed that one of them was the killer, but there was no evidence to show which one it was, both are freed.
As a result, just over one in four (27 per cent) of these cases results in a conviction.
The Law Commission report emphasised that only the defendants could confirm the facts, as the victim could be either dead or too young to give evidence. Its recommendations would apply in cases where a child under the age of 16 had suffered 'non-accidental death or serious injury which must have been caused by at least one of a defined group of individuals' - one of whom must have had responsibility for the child's care at the time the offence was committed.
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