A judge has cleared ex-midwife Lisa Barrett of the manslaughter of two babies who died after high-risk homebirths.

Prosecutors argued that Ms Barrett, 52, failed to adequately warn either mother of the risks they were taking by opting for homebirths, and when both went wrong, she failed to save the infants by telling the women they needed to go to ED urgently.

But in a trial without a jury, Judge Ann Vanstone found that both women were set on a homebirth anyway and that, during the births themselves, it was unclear whether taking the women to hospital earlier would have prevented either death.

The first case, on 7 October 2011, involved the birth of twins.