A woman in England has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison after keeping her baby in a drawer beneath her bed until the child was discovered just weeks before her third birthday.
The little girl, found at the family’s home in Cheshire, was reported to have matted hair, deformities, and rashes, as presented in Chester Crown Court.
The court heard that the mother, who cannot be identified to protect her children’s privacy, concealed the baby’s presence from her siblings by stashing her in the drawer of her divan bed and kept her secret from her partner, who frequently stayed over.
While sentencing the woman for child cruelty, Judge Steven Everett stated, “What you did is beyond belief.”
He further remarked, “You tried to manage this situation as best as you could, but by sheer luck, your horrific secret was uncovered.”
“The impact on (the child) was nothing short of catastrophic—physically, psychologically, and socially.”
He described the child as an “intelligent little girl who is now arguably beginning to awaken from what was nearly a living death in that room.”
The court learned that the woman did not seek medical help for the child’s cleft palate and failed to provide adequate food and water, opting to feed her milky Weetabix through a syringe.
Sion ap Mihangel, prosecuting, stated, “She was kept in a drawer in the bedroom, not allowed outside, not socialized, with no interaction with anyone else.”
He explained that when the child was first hospitalized, her developmental age was assessed at between zero and ten months, and she was significantly malnourished and dehydrated.
According to Mr. ap Mihangel, the infant was abandoned while her mother took her other children to school, went to work, and even during family visits over Christmas.
Once the mother’s boyfriend began staying overnight, the child was moved to another room and left alone there, as testified in court.
The girl was discovered when her partner returned home one morning to use the restroom after the mother had left.
Upon hearing a noise, he entered one of the bedrooms and noticed the child.
He left the house but notified family members, leading to social services arriving later that day and finding the child in the drawer of the bed.
A social worker shared in a statement that she saw the child sitting in the drawer and asked the mother if that was where she kept her daughter.
“She answered rather matter-of-factly, ‘yes, in the drawer,'” the social worker reported.
“I was taken aback by how the mother seemed unperturbed and nonchalant about the situation.
“It became abundantly clear that I was likely the only other face (the child) had seen besides her mother’s.”
Two police officers involved in the case were brought to tears as a statement from the child’s foster carer, described by the judge as “truly devastating,” was read in court.
The carer pointed out, “It was evident that she did not recognize her own name when we called her.”
In her police interview, the woman claimed she was unaware of her pregnancy and felt “really scared” upon giving birth.
She insisted that the baby was not always kept in the drawer and claimed that the drawer was never fully closed, but admitted to officers that the child was “not part of the family.”
She explained to social workers that she had been in an abusive relationship with the child’s father and wanted to prevent him from finding out about her.
Matthew Dunford noted there had been an “exceptional set of circumstances,” including the woman’s mental health struggles, a tumultuous relationship with the child’s father, and the impact of the Covid lockdown.
The defendant wiped tears from her eyes with a tissue as she articulated how her other children, whom she reportedly cared for well, no longer lived with her.
Senior crown prosecutor Rachel Worthington, of CPS Mersey-Cheshire, stated, “This child has never received a birthday present, a Christmas gift, or any acknowledgment of these occasions. She’s had no interaction with her siblings.
“She had not experienced daylight or fresh air and did not respond to her own name when she was initially found.”
She added, “The motive behind the mother’s actions remains unclear, but that falls outside the responsibilities of the Crown Prosecution Service.
“Our role is to ensure that the individual responsible is held accountable.
“That has now been accomplished, and it is the CPS’s sincere hope that the victim in this case is able to recover sufficiently to lead as fulfilling a life as possible.”
The woman pleaded guilty in October to four counts of child cruelty, which encompassed her failure to secure basic medical care for the child, abandonment, malnourishment, and general neglect.
