SUZANNE HOLDSWORTH, the babysitter whose conviction for murdering a North-East toddler was quashed in the High Court, last night agreed to marry the man who campaigned for her freedom.

The 37-year-old accepted the proposal from long-time partner Lee Spencer following an emotional reunion on her release from Low Newton prison, Durham.

Three of the country's senior judges, sitting at London's Court of Appeal, yesterday quashed the mother-of-two's conviction for the murder of Hartlepool toddler Kyle Fisher.

She was granted bail having served three years in prison and will face a re-trial later this year.

Surrounded by her family and loved ones at their Leeds home - including her 13-year-old daughter, Jamie-Lee - Miss Holdsworth said she was "ecstatic to be home".

Speaking exclusively to The Northern Echo, she added: "I felt numb when I was released.

"I don't think it has sunk in yet, but I knew I was innocent so I never gave up.

"Prison was horrendous.

You've got to be there to experience it, to know what it felt like.

It was horrible."

When asked what was the hardest thing she faced during her three years behind bars, Miss Holdsworth replied: "All of it was hard - missing my family and being told I was a liar and I was not innocent.

"But my family and the girls in prison got me through it. They were supportive."

At her Teesside Crown Court trial, Miss Holdsworth was accused of repeatedly banging twoyear- old Kyle's head against a wooden banister.

She was said to have snapped while minding the toddler at her then home in Millpool Close, Hartlepool, while the toddler's 19- year-old mother, Claire Fisher, was enjoying a night out.

Miss Holdsworth, who was sentenced to at least ten years in prison, consistently denied injuring the child and said he had suffered a fit as they watched television.

The prosecution case was that Kyle died from a fatal brain swelling, or oedema, caused by a blow or blows of significant force. Jurors heard the impact on his head was similar to being thrown from a car at 60mph.

Kyle, of nearby Troutpool Close, was rushed to hospital after the incident, but died two days later, on July 27, 2004.

During her recent appeal, which was opposed by the Crown, Miss Holdsworth's QC, Henry Blaxland, told the three judges that the doctors who gave evidence at the trial got it wrong and failed to diagnose that the child had a highly unusual brain, with abnormalities that predisposed him to epilepsy.

Fresh evidence established Thrown into jail for something I didn't do' there was a reasonable possibility that Kyle had suffered a prolonged epileptic seizure, he argued.

The opinion of experts called on behalf of Miss Holdsworth was that Kyle's condition, including an injury to the orbit of the right eye suffered in an accident a year before his death, predisposed him to epilepsy.

Mr Blaxland argued that there had been no vicious assault and that Miss Holdsworth had been the victim of a "serious miscarriage of justice".

She said last night: "It seems more than three years ago. I just want to get back to normal and take one day at a time. I'm not angry - I'm relieved - but I'm disappointed in the (judicial) system.

"I had never been arrested before, and all of a sudden, I'm arrested and thrown into jail for something I didn't do."

Turning to Mr Spencer, she said she could not have survived without his unswerving support.

He then turned to her and proposed.

She replied: "I love you Lee. Of course I will marry you."

She said she was also going to spoil her eldest daughter Lesley's new baby, three-month-old Matthew.

She said that in prison she lived for family visits, although was only allowed to hug Mr Spencer.

Having been given bail, she was taken from Low Newton in a prison van and met her family for a tearful reunion on the A1.

She believes she will be acquitted at the re-trial, but takes nothing for granted. She says she will be devastated if she has to go back to prison.

However, she hopes people will now think of Kyle, whom she said she looked after regularly and loved a great deal.

"Nobody apart from Lee has ever mentioned Kyle. I want people to remember him, he should never be forgotten."

Mr Spencer said it had been a long four years, but he never tired of fighting her cause.

"If I had lost the appeal, I would have come back fighting again and again. I said she was my soulmate and I would not rest until we were reunited.

"Suzanne has had an appeal and been successful - but unfortunately, Kyle will not have that same second chance."

Kyle's father, John Taylor, 26, of Thrumpton Court, Houghtonle- Spring, Wearside, said he had spoken to Mr Spencer on numerous occasions and supported Miss Holdsworth's appeal. He said: "I always felt inside that she was innocent. I fully support her."

Mr Taylor, who now has two other children, added: "I find it really hard and I get myself upset sometimes. I wanted to see Kyle coming in from school and bringing his pictures home, but I am not going to get that.

"If it's proven during the new trial that he did die of an epileptic seizure because of his brain abnormality, I would like to find out if that was caused by his earlier eye injury."

Kyle's family last night issued a statement through Cleveland Police.

It said: "All we have ever wanted was to know the truth about what happened to Kyle. Since his death, our lives have focused around the case, not one of us has been able to move on. Today's decision has brought all the heartache back."

Yesterday, Kyle's mother, Claire Fisher, 23, and his grandmother, Linda Fisher, said they were devastated.

Mrs Fisher, 45, of Somersby Close, Hartlepool, attended the three-day appeal last week, but was unable to attend the judgement yesterday.

"There is going to be a re-trial and that's what we wanted," she said. "I feel low, but if it takes another trial for justice, we will go through it again.

"We thought we had got closure, but the whole thing is just an uproar for everybody.

"At the end of the day, we just want the truth and we want to move on."

She said Kyle's family believed the medical evidence at the appeal would not lead to a different outcome at a new trial. "Kyle has died at the end of the day," she added. "You never get over that - I will take it to my grave. We lost everything - we lost a little boy."