Keli Lane didn't murder baby, parents say

The parents of a former Sydney water polo player who murdered her baby daughter have broken their silence, saying they support her.

Keli Lane arriving at the Supreme Court of NSW

Keli Lane, who was jailed in 2011 for killing her newborn baby Source: AAP

Five years after Keli Lane was jailed for murdering her baby daughter, her parents have finally broken their silence, saying they believe there was a miscarriage of justice.

Sandra and Robert Lane, who live on Sydney's northern beaches at Manly, say they don't believe their only daughter is capable of killing someone.

"I don't think she'd hurt anybody to be truthful, especially a child," Lane's mother Sandra, said in an interview on 60 Minutes.

In 2011, Lane was jailed for at least 13 years and five months for the murder of two-day-old Tegan.

The former elite water polo player has always maintained she gave Tegan to the infant's father, with whom she had a brief affair and who she said was called Andrew Norris or Morris.

The baby girl has never been found.

Lane's parents broke their silence on Sunday following news The Bridge of Hope Innocence at RMIT University is reviewing the evidence in their daughter's case.

They say they know their daughter's story sounds "improbable".

"(But) the truth is stranger than fiction isn't it," Robert Lane said.

He said his daughter was "demonised in the media for 10 years" and both he and his wife believe there was a miscarriage of justice in Keli's trial.

"We love her dearly even though we've been in a difficult position," Mr Lane said.

"All we can do is support her," he said.

The prosecution in Lane's high-profile trial argued the then 21-year-old murdered her child so she could realise her dream of competing in water polo at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.

But a childhood friend of Lane's, who was never questioned during the trial, said that's "completely absurd".

Natalie McCauley told 60 Minutes Keli had told her she was having a fling with a man at the exact same time Teagan is believed to have been conceived.

"His name came up a number of times over a three month period," she said.

Ms McCauley was also critical of the police investigation into Lane, saying it was "skewed" to their view that Teagan had been killed by her mother.

Lane, who never gave evidence during the sensational trial, also revealed she would speak up if she was granted a retrial.

"I want to be heard and I want to be heard in full," she said during a phone call aired on the program.


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Source: AAP

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