Throughout his wife’s seven-week trial, Iain Henderson was convinced that she would be acquitted of killing the 11-month-old baby who had been in her care. His certainty was based on the lack of hard evidence, the prosecution’s dependence on expert witnesses and his own deep belief in his wife’s innocence.

“I have known Keran since high school, for the past 23 years,” Mr Henderson, a former policeman, said. “We have had two children ourselves and Keran has never lost her temper. We were absolutely dumbfounded by the verdict.”

With an appeal against his wife’s sentence being prepared and a private investigation under way, Mr Henderson, 42, says the news that two jurors have questioned the conviction brings him fresh hope.

“This may help to expedite our appeal,” he told The Times. “We want to push for an early appeal and to get Keran out of jail. It’s good news for us to think that people involved in the case have their doubts. I am convinced that there are more jurors who are not happy with the verdict.”

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Mr Henderson said that the past few years had been a “rollercoaster ride”, with a number of unexplained delays in the legal process and a trial that had relied on the testimonies of medical experts. “It has all been very strange. I did empathise with the jury – the medical complexities of the case were never really explained in layman’s terms.

“I kept thinking that the judge would say to the prosecution that they only had expert opinions and that wasn’t enough. I thought you were supposed to use experts to back up other evidence.”

He is worried about how his wife is coping in prison. “I can’t imagine what she went through during her first week in there. There have been two horrific tragedies – little Maeve’s untimely death and Keran’s wrongful incarceration.”

In Iver Heath, the Buckinghamshire village where the Hendersons live, people are organising a campaign to free the woman who has spent years looking after their children as a childminder, a Scout leader and an amateur dramatics teacher. Suzanne MacLoud, 28, is the chairwoman of Carers 4 Carers, a group dedicated to her friend’s release. “Keran was my childminder for four years and I was hoping my son could go back to her,” she said. “People here know who Keran is and they know she is the sort of person who would never lose her temper. They know she is innocent.”

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