Even if Keran’s conviction is quashed, she’s unlikely to recover from her ordeal, which includes enforced separation from her sons, Cameron, 14, and Jamie, nine.

Meanwhile, the parents of little Maeve Sheppard will be left to agonise over what caused their daughter’s death.

Last month, judges paved the way for Keran’s appeal when they gave the Hendersons the go-ahead to hire a QC and prepare medical reports for a hearing later this year.

In an exclusive interview, Iain says: “We’re really pleased.

"There will be a hearing in November to decide whether or not we can go to appeal, but the judges have looked at the evidence and obviously decided there is something there.

"We just want Keran back home where she belongs.”

Keran, an experienced childminder, charity worker and Scout leader, was jailed after a court heard she had lost her temper and shaken Maeve so viciously that she suffered irreparable brain damage.

The jury rejected Keran’s claims that the toddler had “gone floppy” and stopped breathing as she changed her nappy.

But in the weeks after Keran was jailed, two jurors admitted that they believed there had been a miscarriage of justice, while neuropathologist Waney Squier, who was the first person to examine Maeve, said it was “extremely unlikely” she had died as a result of shaken baby syndrome.

All of this has lent huge weight to Iain’s campaign to have his wife’s name cleared.

“There are days when I’m convinced I’ll wake up one morning and find this has all been a nightmare,” he says.

“Until you’ve lived through this, you can’t imagine it.

"Like so many people, when stories of other women wrongly convicted of killing children hit the headlines, I had no understanding of what they and their families were going through.

"But now I do.”

There has been huge support in the Buckinghamshire village of Iver Heath, where the family live.

Yellow ribbons flutter from hedges and trees – a symbol of the Carers4Carers group set up to try to free Keran.

They insist her conviction is unsafe because there was no forensic evidence, and that the case was based on the conflicting and confusing views of a series of experts paid for by the prosecution.

Iain, a former police officer who quit his job with the Metropolitan Police in disgust after the case, says: “People think this sort of thing doesn’t happen to people like us, but it can happen to anyone.

"We’re just a normal family who have been plunged into this living nightmare.”

Iain says his wife puts on a brave face.

“She’s coping day to day,” he adds.

“She’s a strong, pragmatic person, but this experience would test the most resilient of personalities.

"I worry about her when I leave the prison after visiting time.

"It’s so hard for her to have that little bit of contact from home, then to have to go back to her cell having been reminded of what she’s missing.”

Last month, Suzanne Holdsworth, another childminder found guilty of killing a child in her care, had her conviction quashed and is now out of prison awaiting a retrial.

Iain says: “I’m in regular contact with Suzanne’s partner.

"He’s one of the few people who can understand what we’re going through.

"Seeing Suzanne released gives me hope that Keran will come home soon too.”

Iain and his sons have already endured their first Christmas without Keran – and he hopes they won’t have to go through another.

He says their home, once full of laughter, now feels empty.

“Without her, the life has gone from our home,” he says.

“We always had children running around.

"Keran was like a mother hen, clucking round them, taking them on trips and doing arts and crafts with them.

“Now I’ve lost my wife, and the boys have lost their mum.

"Maeve’s parents will never get their daughter back and still don’t know the truth about what happened to her.

"No one’s a winner in this case.”

(...continued on page 2 of 2)

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CLICK HERE TO READ THE PRISON LETTERS THAT REVEAL KERAN'S DESPAIR

What messages of support do you have for Iain and his family? Keran is despairing of life in prison, do you have anything to say to help keep her morale up? The Henderson’s need to keep fighting but it’s becoming a struggle, how can they keep going on a day-to-day basis? How do you think Keran’s sons are coping with being separated from their Mother?

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Photography: Jamie Hughes, PA. Grooming: Kellie Mitchell at Joy Goodman