'Harry is too pale and one hand is scrunched up to his left shoulder. I yell for Steve. Harry often sleeps with his head to one side, but this time it is much further forward. I get out of bed and lift him. His body is limp. I scream for Steve to do something . . . ''

Sally Clark is reliving the memory; the agony, of finding that her second baby has died in his sleep. To lose one child is terrible; to lose two unimaginable, but what was to follow became a nightmare which robbed the young solicitor of her family, her dignity and, ultimately, her freedom.

Before having time to grieve for their infant, she and her husband Stephen found themselves under police investigation. Sally was eventually found guilty of the murders of both Harry and her firstborn son, Christopher.

She spent more than three years in jail before her sentence was overturned thanks to the dedication of her legal team and supporters who never doubted her innocence.

It emerged that Christopher was a victim of cot death and Harry died from the blood infection, septicemia, the evidence for which was concealed during Sally's trial but which formed the basis of her successful second appeal.

The story made front page headlines all over the world and Sally's conviction is seen as one of the worst miscarriages of justice the British courts have ever witnessed. Hers was the first in a series of ground-breaking legal cases which have led to the review of 258 other convictions involving infant deaths or alleged abuse. Her case subsequently helped Angela Canning who was put on trial for the murder of two sons. Then Trupti Patel was cleared by a jury of killing three of her children a year ago.

Sally's supporters hope that eventually her experience could lead to fundamental changes in the way in which the law treats unexplained sudden infant death. One of her legal team says: ''The irony is that if you admit killing your child you get help. If you didn't do it, you could face life behind bars.''

Sally, 39, herself a policeman's daughter says: ''I was naive. I thought if you were innocent then you had nothing to fear from the law.''

But although physically free, psychologically her ordeal isn't over. A friend says: ''Life for Sally right now is like being caught in the middle of a nervous breakdown. She craves anonymity and is very scared of crowds. Cars, trains, supermarkets all can be daunting for her. She came across some papers relating to her trial and it was as if a huge black clouds came over her again.''

Clare Montgomery QC addressing the British Academy of Forensic Sciences recently said of the case: ''Sally Clark had not killed her sons, they were not murdered. This grotesque miscarriage of justice was the result of flawed evidence given by forensic scientists.''

Some of the expert witnesses who helped put Sally behind bars are now under scrutiny themselves and are accused of letting their personal arrogance influence their professional opinions.

Professor Sir Roy Meadow, now retired and the former president of the British Paediatric Association, said that society should ''think dirty'' when it comes to infant death, and that ''one sudden infant death is a tragedy, two is suspicious and three is murder unless proven otherwise''. His claim that the chance of two cot deaths in a family is 1:73million lay at the very heart of Sally's conviction.

Just last week, the family had to continue the fight to defend their name when a General Medical Council (GMC) hearing in Manchester heard a complaint by Stephen Clark against consultant paediatrician Professor David Southall. Despite having no evidence, Southall told the police that he believed that Stephen - and not his wife - murdered their sons, simply after watching a Channel Four documentary about the case in 2000. This triggered a police investigation which eventually totally exonerated Stephen Clark. He says of the trail by TV against him: ''It is a sick joke.'' The GMC found Southhall guilty of abusing his professional position.

Despite the unforgettably-dramatic press footage of Sally Clark being set free from prison, the truth is that, a year on, there is still no clear sign of a happy ending.

Stephen admits: ''Getting my wife out of jail was just the beginning. She is so damaged by what has been done to her. All our lives have been so badly affected. We've been kept apart for what could have been the best three years of our marriage. Sally still has to build a relationship with me and with our son Tom, and me with her. She is not the person I married. I am not the man she said those vows to.''

On bad days, flashbacks of Sally's time behind bars engulf her. She recalls the terror of her first steps into custody after being found guilty of killing her sons.

''At Styal Prison, as I walked through the door I appeared on the television screen,'' she says. ''Fifty faces stare at me screaming: 'Here's the nonce! Murderer! Die, woman, die!' I am put in a small holding cell and the other women are banging on the doors shouting abuse and clambering up to look through the window. I feel like a caged animal.''

During their separation her dedicated husband somehow found the strength to keep up the fight for her freedom while managing to find a new family home, hold down a demanding new job and winning the right to have their third son brought out of foster care for him to raise.

As for Sally, she has been home a year now but is receiving counselling to try to help her deal with post-traumatic stress syndrome. She says: ''I left my son Tom (she calls him by this name to protect his identity) a baby and when I returned home he was a toddler. Quite soon after my release my son had a sore throat. Other mums would know the difference between that and something serious. I do not. There are occasions when Tom runs to Steve or his nanny, rather than me and that hurts, but they had their routine with him when I wasn't there.''

Sally has had offers from legal firms to return to work but

confesses: ''I have been so damaged by what happened and my confidence so destroyed that it may be a pipe dream.''

Today the couple live quietly in the south of England and have done all they can to avoid being the focus of attention. Sally has refused approaches to sell their story - some of them in excess of (pounds) 250,000 - as a book, TV documentary or film as she doesn't want to be seen to be profiting from her babies' deaths.

Shy of publicity, she has also shrunk from becoming a spokeswoman for the laws regarding women accused of infant murder. However, she and her husband have given their backing to a book out this month which details every twist and turn of their lives over the past few years. Written by close family friend and fellow solicitor John Batt, Stolen Innocence tells the tale of the Clarks' struggle to survive after being found to be on the wrong side of the law.

From the outset of Sally's arrest Batt was a watching brief for the family and worked full-time as part of her appeal team, visiting her regularly in prison.

He says the Clark family are trying to rebuild their lives and that things are slightly better as Sally is currently ''having more good days than bad''.

On the value of expert witnesses in trials, Batt's measured tones become heated: ''The casual incompetence of the medics I saw during Sally's trial simply beggared belief. You would think she was facing a (pounds) 5 fine rather than life imprisonment such was their arrogance.''

Batt says working with the Clarks has made him, as a solicitor and former criminal lawyer, cynical about the legal system he once trusted absolutely. ''I would say to any woman facing the unexplained death of their baby to get a good criminal lawyer before they say anything to the police.

''Sally was so trusting she told officers everything - even details about how she disliked being so big during pregnancy and got tired sometimes - normal things. Yet, when the trial came, her words were used to paint her as a cold, career-obsessed woman. I will never forget the newspaper picture of their cottage and the words 'The Death House' as the headline. It was unbearable.''

Batt adds: ''All we can hope now is that time will help heal their wounds and that their huge love for one another will see them find happier times.''

Stolen Innocence: The Authorised Story of Sally Clark, John Batt, Ebury Press, (pounds) 14.99

Diary of pain

Friday, December 13, 1996 Christopher dies, aged three months.

Monday, January 27, 1998

Harry dies, aged two months.

Days later Sally and Stephen Clark are arrested. Sally Clark is accused of the murder of her two infants.

November 1998 the Clarks' third son, Tom, is born. His parents

are alone with him for 10

minutes. Days later he is placed in foster care.

November 11, 1999 After a

high-profile trial, Sally is sentenced to life imprisonment.

Three years later Sally's first appeal is turned down.

January 29 2003 Sally Clark's conviction was quashed by the

Court of Appeal and she was

freed to be reunited with her

family.