The Argus last night handed Home Secretary Jack Straw a dossier calling for a change in the law.

The move follows the collapse of the Brighton child cruelty trial when a couple accused of murdering three babies were cleared.

The dossier, comprising every story published since the trial collapse, documents the feeling of outrage in the community that no one has been brought to justice for the deaths of the baby boys, aged five weeks, six weeks and 17 months.

The couple were found not guilty of murdering the babies, on the direction of the judge, despite expert testimony that they were probably smothered. The 26-year-old mother made a statement that her 38-year-old husband had placed pillows over the babies' heads because he said they had been crying and had "deserved it".

Lewes Crown Court heard how it had probably taken up to two-and-a-half minutes before each of the the struggling babies died. The case has led to a public outcry with MPs, local councillors and church leaders joining the Argus' call for a change in the law or a review.

Des Turner, Brighton Kemp Town MP, said: "I have deep concerns that something like this should happen in this day and age and yet be left unresolved."

Concerned Brighton mother Sandra Reed stood outside St Peter's Church in Brighton for weeks, gathering more than 1,000 names for a petition calling for a change in the law. She handed the names last night to Mr Straw.

She said: "Everyone is disgusted that no one has been brought to justice for the deaths of three innocent children."

Sussex Chief Constable Paul Whitehouse said: "It would seem quite wrong if two people were present at the scene of a crime that both should escape conviction."

He wants a new charge of joint enterprise to run alongside murder or to stand alone in such cases. The judge in the case, Mr Justice Moses, told the jury to disregard the wife's accusations against her husband because the husband had not been present to refute them when she made the statement.

He said there was no evidence to say both defendants were in the rooms at the time of the deaths. The jury may have plumped for one of the accused but, he added: "It is better both be acquitted than one wrongly convicted. You could debate all night long the rights and wrongs of it, but that is the law and there are good reasons for it."

Detective Inspector Malcolm Bacon, who led the three-year police murder inquiry, also met the Home Secretary last night to discuss the case. He takes a different stance from Mr Whitehouse, believing the burden of proof in such cases should transfer to the defendants.

He said: "This may fly in the face of the general principle of 'innocent until proven guilty', but which would be more fair and just?"

Mr Straw stressed that in the Brighton case, Mr Justice Moses had properly followed the law with his ruling. He conceded court rules "may be too exclusionary" and said the issue could be passed to Lord Justice Auld, senior Court of Appeal judge, who is conducting a review of court procedure.

He said he could not guarantee an outcome but added it was "important the law protects the innocent and more effectively convicts the guilty."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.