A FORMER Nelson woman accused of poisoning her teenage daughter with unnecessary medication has been cleared following a three-week trial.

In what has been described as a landmark case, Mary Kidson, 55, was acquitted after it was alleged she gave her daughter harmful medication bought from on-line pharmacies.

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Her defence had said she was just a 'loving caring mother' who had struggled for years with her daughter’s ill health and she only wanted to see her 'get well'.

The former Nelson Grammar student who ran her own on-line educational business, believed that her daughter, who was not named in court, had deficiencies in cortisol, thyroid and oestrogen and needed special medicine.

But prosecutor John Cawser said Mrs Kidson, had gone 'doctor shopping' on the internet until she found one who agreed with her ideas.

The prosecution alleged that she had administered hydrocortisone tablets, oestrogen tablets, and thyroid extract over a three year period which weren't needed.

However a jury cleared her of three charges of administering a poisonous or noxious substance so as to endanger life or inflict grievous bodily harm by a jury at Worcester Crown Court.

East Lancashire barrister Ken Hind, who led her defence, said Mrs Kidson's daughter suffered with a number of health problems including fatigue, muscle pain and low blood pressure.

He said that the 'landmark ruling' could now have a long-term impact on sufferers of thyroid and cortisol hormone deficiencies seeking treatment who felt they were struggling to get the right treatment from their doctors.

Mr Hind said that Mrs Kidson was convinced her daughter had deficiencies in cortisol, thyroid and oestrogen after carrying out research on the internet.

The teenager was seen by five endocrine paediatric consultants in the NHS with four discharging her saying that nothing was wrong, he said.

But still convinced something was causing her daughter problems, Mrs Kidson took advantage of section 13 of the Medicines Act 1968 and ordered hormones from accredited pharmacies online and consulted Dr Durrant Pearfield, an unregistered physician.

She then took her daughter to Brussels to see Dr Thierry Hertoghe who carried out tests on 40 hormones and minerals and prescribed hormones and nutrients and treated her for five months.

When it was discovered she had administered the medication Mrs Kidson was arrested on March 5, 2013, and her daughter was taken into interim care where she was placed with foster carers for two months.

In January this year Mrs Kidson, of Dymock Road, Ledbury, was charged and told to only see her daughter for two hours every fortnight whilst under the supervision of a social worker until April.

However she was remanded in custody for six months after breaching the bail condition by texting and phoning the girl.

Mr Hind said: "We were initially approached by her family to take this case and we undertook it as this was the kind of case which we came into this profession to deal with and protect the man and woman in the street where we see the state has got things wrong.

"Her defence was that as a loving caring mother who had struggled for years with her daughter’s ill health she only wanted to see her get well, develop normally and have a happy, fulfilled adult life."

Judge Robert Juckes QC told the jury there was no evidence that grievous bodily harm had been caused or that there was a risk to the girl's life.

Mrs Kidson said after the trial that her time in prison had been a positive experience and she had managed to carry out a lot of good work.

She was looking forward to the day when she could be reunited with her daughter and would think again before re-starting her website on the internet.