Mum kept secret baby hidden in drawer of divan bed and fed her through syringe

A mum who secretly kept her newborn hidden in the drawer of her divan bed and fed her milky Weetabix through a syringe has been locked up. The defendant managed to keep her baby a secret from friends and family for three years.

She would leave the tot in the drawer for hours as she went to work and took her other children to school. The mum also fed her baby through a medicine syringe in what has been described as an 'extreme' case of neglect.

The child was only discovered when the woman's partner heard a baby noise from the bedroom. He was not usually allowed upstairs.

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The mum - who cannot be named for legal reasons - admitted four counts of child cruelty. She was jailed for seven years and six months at Chester Crown Court on Tuesday, November 26.

A court heard how the child was born in 2020 with a cleft palate. The mum claimed she gave birth in a bath at her home in Cheshire and initially fed her herself.

She then decided to place the baby in a drawer in her divan bed and leave her there - but prosecutors were never able to establish a reason why. The mum 'came back now and again' to feed the tot milky Weetabix through a medicine syringe and change their nappies.

She would leave her child 'alone for hours on end' as she went to work and took her other children to school. The mum's partner heard a noise of what he believed to be a baby when he was in the house in February 2023.

He had gone back into the property to use the toilet after the defendant left her keys in the door. She usually did not allow him upstairs alone, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

He followed the noise and discovered a child of almost three years old with a 'cleft palate, matted hair and clearly malnourished'. The shocked man ran from the house and told his mother who then rang the mum of the defendant.

A social worker who was first on the scene said: "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 blasé about the situation. I asked had anyone else ever seen the baby, mum stated "no".

"It became an overwhelming horror that I was probably the only other face the baby 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 mum told police she had been in an abusive relationship with the father of the baby and did not want to tell him she was pregnant.

The child's growth and physical and mental development was 'severely impacted' by the 'lack of care, attention and food', as well as the 'restrictions of a life spent in a drawer', the CPS said. She could not crawl, walk, talk or make any communicative noises and made repetitive 'self-soothing' movements, such as rocking.

The baby - whose birth was never registered - was also significantly malnourished, unkempt, dehydrated. She had an untreated cleft lip and palate, swollen abdomen, significant nappy rash, and poor muscle bulk.

The child 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, the CPS added.

It was confirmed that the developmental delay was a result of the extreme nature of the neglect. But within two weeks of her admission to hospital, the child was vocalising, seeking adult comfort and crying to make her needs known.

She has continued to make progress and has been operated on twice to rectify the cleft palate - but still needs further surgery. 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.

"She 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.

"The motive behind the mother’s behaviour is still not clear, but that is not the role of the Crown Prosecution Service. Our job is to bring the person responsible to justice.

"That has now been done and it is the profound hope of the CPS that the victim in this case recovers sufficiently to live as full a life as possible." DC Rachel Di Nicola, of Cheshire Constabulary, added: "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."