A callous woman who kept her secret child hidden in a drawer under her bed for almost three years has given a shocking reason for her behaviour. The mother – who can’t be named for legal reasons – hid the birth of her daughter from her family and friends.
The baby was born in 2020 with a cleft palate with the mum apparently giving birth in a bath at her home in Cheshire. When the horror situation finally came to light, the mother told police during an interview the young girl “was not part of the family”, reports the Mirror.
The woman initially fed the child herself but inexplicably – and for a reason the Crown Prosecution Service has never been able to establish – she placed the baby in a drawer in her divan bed and left her there.
She returned every so often to feed the child milky Weetabix through a medical syringe and change the child’s nappies. As time went on, the mother went to and from work and took her other kids to school, leaving the child in the drawer alone for hours on end.
The baby’s growth and physical and mental development was hugely impacted by the lack of care, attention and food, and the restrictions of life spent in the drawer. The child was eventually discovered in February 2023, when a partner of the mother’s heard a noise from what he believed was a baby.
He made the discovery after going back into the house to use the toilet after the defendant had left her keys in the door. She usually did not allow him upstairs alone.
He followed the noise and discovered a child of almost three years old with a cleft palate, matted hair and clearly malnourished. He quickly left the house in shock and told his mother who then rang the mother of the defendant. Social workers and the police were called.
Those first on the scene gave moving statements to the court about what they found. The social worker stated: “Since March 2023, I have thought about the baby and this case often.
“My initial feelings and thoughts when we entered the mother’s bedroom was of disbelief. From entering this room, the bed was high, possibly a double mattress, so I could not see (the baby). Her mother walked round the side of the bed and I followed. I was taken aback by what I saw and was extremely shocked to see a baby looking up at me sat in a divan drawer.
“(The baby) stared at me and was rocking back and forth. I looked at her mum and asked, ‘Is this where you keep her?’ The mother replied matter of factly, ‘yes in the drawer.’
“I was shocked the mother did not show any emotion and appeared blase about the situation. I asked had anyone else ever seen (the child)? Mum stated no. It became an overwhelming horror that I was probably the only other face X had seen apart from her mother’s.
“Having been a social worker since 2006, I have never experienced such an extreme case of blatant child neglect and cruelty. The mother showed no remorse or emotion which I found extremely difficult to comprehend.”
The mother told police that she’d been in an abusive relationship with the baby’s father and didn’t want him to know she was pregnant. When the baby was examined by medical experts, she could not crawl, walk, talk or make any communicative noises and made repetitive rocking movements to self-soothe.
The tot was also significantly malnourished, unkempt, dehydrated, she had an untreated cleft lip and palate, swollen abdomen, significant nappy rash, and poor muscle bulk. She also had floppy limbs, swollen feet in an abnormal position and redness to the outer limbs. At the age of 35 months her development was markedly delayed and was the equivalent to that of a 10-month-old. It has been confirmed that the developmental delay was a result of the extreme nature of the neglect.
Within two weeks of her hospital admission, the baby has made progress and has been operated on twice to rectify the cleft palate. However, she still requires further surgery. The mother pleaded guilty to four charges of child cruelty which occurred between March 18, 2020 and February 18, 2023, at a hearing at Chester Crown Court on October 9, 2024. She was sentenced to seven years and six months’ imprisonment.
Following the sentencing DC Rachel Di Nicola said: “What this child has experienced in its short lifetime is simply unimaginable, and how anyone can allow a child to suffer in that way is beyond belief.
“The shocking neglect was on an indescribable scale and the suffering the child experienced will impact them for the rest of their life.
“All those involved in the case have been left deeply shocked by what we uncovered, and we have all been amazed by the way the child has recovered since they were discovered, and we hope that this recovery continues .”
Senior Crown Prosecutor Rachel Worthington, of CPS Mersey-Cheshire, said: “This child has been subjected to extreme neglect of her health, development, and basic care needs since before she was born.mShe was left on her own for long periods of time, sleeping in an inappropriate and too small space, and receiving inadequate nutrition.
“When the mother went out with her other children or to work, the child was simply left to fend for herself. This child has never had a birthday present, a Christmas present or anything to recognise these days. She’s had no interaction with any of her siblings.
“She hadn’t known daylight or fresh air and didn’t respond to her own name when she was first found.
“This case has shocked all the prosecution team and has been very difficult to work on. After reading the evidence, I had to take myself away and try and process what I had read. I am a mother myself and simply couldn’t comprehend what this defendant had done or why.”
Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond – Sign up to our daily newsletter here.