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Mum kept baby hidden in drawer for nearly 3 years !!

624 replies

benjaminjamesandgraham · 26/11/2024 18:44

Even Christmas day she was kept in a drawer - oh how can someone be so cruel
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gz1dv8ly2o

The drawer where the child was kept, open underneath a cream divan bed with a blanket inside showing where the girl lived for the first three years of her life.

Cheshire mother who kept her baby hidden in a drawer for three years jailed

Prosecutors say the girl had "never known daylight or fresh air" when she was found.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gz1dv8ly2o

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
Babyboomtastic · 27/11/2024 14:19

Its the deliberate withholding of love, affection ends medical care that really gets to me. If she wanted to keep the baby hidden, she could have still kept her in that room, but talked to her, given her toys, opened the curtains so she saw the sun (even if she put up that film so people couldn't see in). She could have fed her proper food and she could have slept in the bed.

The CPS in their statement confirmed that the neglect was the cause for her developmental delays. To have a mother feed you enough to keep you alive, change your nappy (infrequently) meant there was interaction. The fact that she couldn't even recognise her own name shows how minimal and neglectful that interaction was. Most babies will crawl and walk in time of their own peng accord. This child didn't, which shows how screwed up it all was.

Poor little girl.

GiddyRobin · 27/11/2024 14:21

@Puzzledandpissedoff @theresabluebirdinmyheart I agree. Around my way in the NW, I'm surprised by how good social workers are tbh. Sometimes to the point of perfectly good families actually suffering - but that is better than things like this sliding under the rug. I hear a lot from parents in local groups absolutely desperately upset they've been reported, and my God it must absolutely hurt, I'd be distraught out of my mind. But the fact they reach out is...well, it's good isn't it? I wish this was a country wide thing. On the other hand, I wonder, is the system broken? Happy families being targeted and yet the malevolent cretins like this woman being ignored? I don't know anymore.

I feel so badly for the other children, too. I hope that they weren't abused, I desperately hope not. But either way, I don't imagine they're in a good place. They will have had to change schools. They will carry this burden for the rest of their lives; either a loving mother who had this side to her, or abuse and then something even worse.

It's so horrifically sad. I wonder, and hope, if the other children are able to change their own names too.

Snugglemonkey · 27/11/2024 14:43

DoreenonTill8 · 27/11/2024 08:15

I don't think you'll have had to have lost a baby to think her actions are abhorrent and she absolutely deserve a custodial sentence.

I have also experienced loss, but I look at this and wonder what has happened to this woman. Her actions are obviously abhorrent and I cannot imagine the suffering of that poor baby, but I can also have compassion for all of the others in this situation. Some of your posts are vitriolic. I just think that is a bit much when we are so lacking in information.

ILoveAnnaQuay · 27/11/2024 14:58

That poor little girl. She will.never fully recover.

Losingthetimber · 27/11/2024 15:12

monkfruitmartini · 27/11/2024 13:47

Also the partner apparently found the little girl yet left her and went and told his mother and it was her who rang social services?
Wonder why the partner didn’t just ring 999 after finding a child in that state.

Yes, I agree. He sounds rather young. Also, it would be a lot to take in, for one, as even a well-seasoned social worker was overwhelmed by what she saw and the implications of it for the child's life. And if you've no experience of social services I expect you wouldn't know to call them or call the police or call a hospital or an ambulance.

I have no criticism of him, if I found a child on the bed, who was clearly older but had rhe body of a 7 month old, who couldn’t walk or talk and was deformed, (the reports say the child has developed further deformaties sadly) then I’d be in shock, and I’d probably phone my husband in an utter panic. I think many peiple would do the same. And I’m middle aged.

I can’t comprehend people having compassion for the mother. The judge had all the details, all of them, inc the defence, which would inc mental health reports, history etc and the judge called the woman wicked as they jailed her.

if that’s what rhe judge thinks and they have jailed her, then it is ludicrous to assume something else. Utterly ludicrous.

women abuse. Women neglect. Sometimes, women are just heinous humans. Having a vagina doesn’t make us good. It doesn’t prevent our gender abusing and neglecting. Many children have died due to abuse and neglect by a woman. By their mother. Sure, it might not be as many as have at the hands of a man, but it happens. And this is just another case of it,

there should be no compassion for this woman. Only her family and other children, and her partner who found this child. But mostly we should have compassion for this little girl, whose life has been utterly blighted, physically and mentally by her own mother.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 27/11/2024 15:31

BigHaircut · 27/11/2024 13:57

But then his mother called the baby's mother before calling anyone else?
They all know each other well enough to have their phone numbers?
The dynamic is so weird.

Maybe, but then we don't know what community / experiences / expectations are involved either, and there may or may not have been some initial hope tthat they could "sort it out themselves" without involving the authorities

GiddyRobin · 27/11/2024 15:32

Snugglemonkey · 27/11/2024 14:43

I have also experienced loss, but I look at this and wonder what has happened to this woman. Her actions are obviously abhorrent and I cannot imagine the suffering of that poor baby, but I can also have compassion for all of the others in this situation. Some of your posts are vitriolic. I just think that is a bit much when we are so lacking in information.

How do you feel about Fritzl? Obviously he wasn't "well", but I don't see compassion for him? Or any man who behaves like this.

I feel that lots of women are falling prey to the "poor mother, she must have been troubled" routine. Sure, maybe she was. Lots of us are. We don't do this.

mrstumbler · 27/11/2024 15:39

It's the fact she just kept her alive, that's all. No love, no nothing. Just fucking sickening

Lalgarh · 27/11/2024 15:46

Does anyone ever do follow up interviews with the children, years later? I always wondered about the siblings of Maria Colwell who was killed by her stepdad in the 1970's .

Do they end up in similar circumstances

BertieBotts · 27/11/2024 17:13

Lalgarh · 27/11/2024 15:46

Does anyone ever do follow up interviews with the children, years later? I always wondered about the siblings of Maria Colwell who was killed by her stepdad in the 1970's .

Do they end up in similar circumstances

Confused I hope not, that would be pretty ghoulish. I doubt the relatives of people who have committed awful crimes want publicity about it, TBH.

TheDowagerCountessofPembroke · 27/11/2024 17:27

Illneverstopnamechanging89 · 27/11/2024 02:08

No I havnt , I've read the article the OP posted

I know exactly what you saying.

Although this poor child was clearly neglected in a dreadful way that had left her physically disabled she was not beaten, hit, burned or otherwise physically injured directly. Her injuries have been the result of the shocking neglect, not direct assault.

kaela100 · 27/11/2024 17:30

Some people should never have children

MummyofTw0 · 27/11/2024 17:39

This made me tear up when I started reading online. Horrendous abuse. So heart breaking for that poor little girl and family and community

Lovedogwalking · 27/11/2024 17:41

It made me feel ill hearing this, a friend told me earlier today as well. I really hope she gets the help she needs, and the warmth of a loving family to start healing her little soul

IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle · 27/11/2024 17:45

TheDowagerCountessofPembroke · 27/11/2024 17:27

I know exactly what you saying.

Although this poor child was clearly neglected in a dreadful way that had left her physically disabled she was not beaten, hit, burned or otherwise physically injured directly. Her injuries have been the result of the shocking neglect, not direct assault.

And what is your point?

And, even if she wasn't hit ( which, by the way you have no knowledge whether that's the case.) it's complete and utter nonsense to say she wasn't harmed physically.

IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle · 27/11/2024 17:47

Is there anything done by a woman which is so terrible that someone won't fall over themselves to make an excuse for?

I've seen excuses being made for Rose West and Myra Hindley.

TheOneandOnlyPrincessFiona84 · 27/11/2024 18:22

CheesecakeTheCapybara · 26/11/2024 20:09

So if this child had such complex needs where was the midwife and doctors ? Why didn't the mother seek help? So many questions.

She kept her pregnancy a secret and never took her out to see a doctor.

Sennelier1 · 27/11/2024 18:27

I hope social services find a good home for this little girl, with loving parents and a bunch of siblings 💝

theresabluebirdinmyheart · 27/11/2024 18:38

@Losingthetimber i didn’t mean any criticism of the partner at all, i just think the fact he found the child in that state then left her alone again and had to consult his mum on what to do sounds like he’s either very young or as someone else said , they come from a community or culture where involving police or authorities is not the done thing.

@Puzzledandpissedoff the photo in the BBC article is watermarked with Cheshire police logo so I assumed it was a photo of the actual crime scene taken at the time. I suppose having a filthy house is irrelevant in this situation anyway…

ByHardyRubyEagle · 27/11/2024 18:41

That’s…horrendous.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 27/11/2024 18:46

the photo in the BBC article is watermarked with Cheshire police logo so I assumed it was a photo of the actual crime scene taken at the time

Ah, apologies @theresabluebirdinmyheart; I hadn't seen that particular one so you're probably right

CheesecakeTheCapybara · 27/11/2024 18:48

TheOneandOnlyPrincessFiona84 · 27/11/2024 18:22

She kept her pregnancy a secret and never took her out to see a doctor.

Very bizarre. I'm guessing it was a child born out of wedlock and there was a stigma attached. In some religious communities this is a thing.

TheDowagerCountessofPembroke · 27/11/2024 18:56

IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle · 27/11/2024 17:45

And what is your point?

And, even if she wasn't hit ( which, by the way you have no knowledge whether that's the case.) it's complete and utter nonsense to say she wasn't harmed physically.

I’m not making any point. I’m not saying that she wasn’t harmed physically, just that she wasn’t hit, punched, burned etc. There is no point to make.

Jack80 · 27/11/2024 18:59

I read this, this morning it's awful. The poor child.

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