This is so desperately sad (warning some may find this upsetting)

[BigBadMummy]

I wondered why I couldn't get out of Fleet today because Police where all over the road near the station. And the station was cordened off.

Warning, this is sad

The poor chap. And the poor mother, she must have been desperate.

sorry, said chap as initial reports said it was a baby boy.

Seems the baby is a girl.

Poor child. Poor poor child.

I hope they find the mother, in case it was not her who murdered the baby and she herself is in danger.

Whoever it was, I am unable to extend my sympathy to include the person who murdered that baby.

Seems it is now turning into a murder enquiry as injuries were not sustained during birth.

Horrific.

Thats bloody awful.

Blimey, I heard the sirens too, never dreamt that such an awful thing could have happened That poor tiny child

That has really shaken me, so close to home. Need to go and look at my littlies now, at least they are treasured. Unlike that poor baby

Rest in Peace little girl

Lionstar I know what you mean. I saw it as I went out for lunch and didnt think too more of it, just assumed it was a suspect package or at worse a "person under a train". Which in itself is dreadful but it didn't really register.

DD1 who is on GCSE study leave called me as I was coming home and it completely rocked me.

Just made me feel so awful. So close to home and such shocking news.

I trust they find those responsible as soon as possible and that they get the justice they deserve.

I just heard about this this morning from my year 11 pupils (I teach in Fleet). It's really sad and they were really sad about it too. I was surprised how far down the page it was on the bbc news page.

I am surprised there hasn't been more media coverage about it to be honest.

I did catch that the mum has handed herself in, though.

I'm kind of thankful there hasn't been too much coverage, there is so much truly awful stuff going on at the moment.

Let's not start shtting ourselves in frenzy about the horrors of teen binge drinking/ladette culture/internet porn being to blame just yet, though. And remember that the mum may have handed herself in but that may not mean 'confessed to killing the baby' - she may be a witness to what happened and a victim of some kind of abuse herself.

noone said they didn't have sympathy for the mother or mentioned teen drinking etc.
If the mum did do it then it's really sad that whatever the circumstances were they must have been really bad for her to feel that was a way out of whatever was going on in her life.
And if she didn't do it then there's a chance she was in danger and/or in a really bad place herself.
I don't think I'm alone in feeling really sorry for her.

I am relieved when things like this aren't sensationalised. It's heartbreaking for everyone involved. Whatever happened that poor mum was obviously suffering in some way.

My sympathy is reserved for the victim. Or victims. however it turns out. I have no sympathy for whoever murdered that baby, whoever that person turns out to be.

And I make no apologies for that. I think it is a terrible thing to do, to murder.

i particularly hate, loathe, detest and despise the idea that somehow a murderer deserves sympathy depending on who their victim is - their newborn baby oh poor them. their disabled child - oh poor them, their elderly and confused parent - oh poor them.

To me it seems like it is giving the victim as the reason why the person killed them. It was understandable, or forgivable, or they were too much of a burden or whatever.

It is my view. I suppose it is a very black and white view, but it is the way that I feel. I can understand the pressures and the problems but I can never and will never feel that they in any way justify or excuse murder of vulnerable people.

the 16 yr old mother of this baby has been released on bail for 6 weeks. thank goodness someone other than hecate was responsible for hearing her bail application

There is such a thing as post natal psychosis (except in the US , especially Texas), and who knows what may have been going on in the mother's mind, if she's the one who did it.

I do see Hecate's point though - if it was the mother who killed her child, why does she get more sympathy than, say, the man who jumped off the balcony in Crete with his two children? Or the taxi-driver yesterday? Bundle - you are happy that the mother was released on bail: presumably you are campaigning for all who kill to be released on bail?

Because there are degrees of responsibility according to one's mental state at the time the crime was committed. If a mother was affected by post partum psychosis at delivery or in the hours afterwards she would not be responsible in the same way that she might be if she were to take a weapon and shoot a child of 5. The condition can mimic schizophrenia.

One law does not fit all. Mental illness has been a mitigating factor in murder charges for many years. Info here on puerperal psychosis. Sometimes it ends tragically; sometimes the mother commits suicide while the baby is unharmed.

That's "Sometimes it ends tragically for the mother too; sometimes the mother commits suicide while the baby is unharmed"

I am with hecate. people are too quick to use the "vulnerable" argument to justify their own feelings.

I don't imagine for instance, that Derek Bird was of sound mind when he killed twelve people and injured eleven others. In fact the fact he then went on to kill himself could be seen to be proof of that. But I can't imagine people calling for sympathy for him. So why is he different to someone who murders their baby?