Folbigg pardoned 20 years after homicide sentence

A TIMELINE OF MAJOR EVENTS IN KATHLEEN FOLBIGG'S LIFE:

* JUNE 14, 1967 - Kathleen Megan Donovan (later Folbigg) born

* JANUARY 8, 1969 - Folbigg's mother is murdered by her father

* 1987 - Marries Craig Folbigg

* FEBRUARY 20, 1989 - Caleb Folbigg dies aged 19 days

* FEBRUARY 13, 1991 - Patrick Folbigg dies aged eight months

* AUGUST 30, 1993 - Sarah Folbigg dies aged 10 months

* MARCH 1, 1999 - Laura Folbigg dies, aged 18 months

* APRIL 19, 2001 - Folbigg, aged 33, is arrested after a two-year police investigation and charged with murdering her four infant children in their Singleton home

* OCTOBER 24, 2003 - Folbigg is sentenced to 40 years in prison for three counts of murder and one of manslaughter. Later reduced on appeal to 30 years with a minimum of 25 years

* SEPTEMBER 2, 2005 - High Court refuses to grant special leave to appeal

* JUNE 10, 2015 - NSW governor David Hurley receives petition for review of convictions based on forensic pathology findings

* OCTOBER 28, 2018 - Former judge Reginald Blanch begins hearing inquiry into convictions

* MAY 2019 - An international medical registry reports that two US children have died of the mutation found in Sarah and Laura

* JULY 2019 - Blanch inquiry finds no reasonable doubt to Folbigg's convictions - validation of Folbigg mutation could not be completed before end of inquiry

* OCTOBER 2019 - Folbigg's lawyers apply for judicial review of the Blanch inquiry

* NOVEMBER 2020 - Likely role of CALM2 mutation in Sarah and Laura's death confirmed in world-leading study

* MARCH 3, 2021 - Scientists' petition for Folbigg pardon sent to NSW Governor Margaret Beazley

* MARCH 24, 2021 - NSW Court of Appeal dismisses challenge to Blanch inquiry, stating the conclusion was not at odds with the scientific evidence

* MAY 18, 2022 - Former chief justice Tom Bathurst appointed to lead a second inquiry into her convictions

* APRIL 22, 2023 - Folbigg begins the 21st year of her sentence

* APRIL 26, 2023 - Mr Bathurst hears both the inquiry's counsel assisting and the state's top prosecutor hold reasonable doubts about Folbigg's guilt

* MAY 2, 2023 - Mr Bathurst finds the same in a preliminary report, unable to accept there was evidence Folbigg was "anything but a caring mother for her children". Report handed to Attorney-General Michael Daley

* MAY 5, 2023 - On the advice of Mr Daley, Governor Margaret Beazley pardons Folbigg who walks from a Grafton prison, to spend first night of freedom with lifelong friend Tracy Chapman and supporters