Baby murder: Mum gives evidence

A SUFFOLK mother told a court she sent her daughter away “with a flea in her ear” moments before she gave birth to the baby she and her teenage boyfriend are accused of killing.

She told Ipswich Crown Court she had been in bed in a heavy sleep after drinking wine when her 15-year-old daughter burst in and declared she was suffering severe stomach pains.

The woman said: “She came to me about midnight, she said her stomach pains were really bad. She put the bedroom light on and I dived under the cover because I could not see. I must admit I had drunk too much wine that night. I sent her away with a flea in her ear and told her to take some pain killers.”

The woman said she thought she heard a baby cry a few times during the early hours of October 7 last year but dismissed it as cats outside.

The court heard that her daughter gave birth alone in the downstairs toilet.

She said she found a pair of scissors in the downstairs toilet the next morning and blood in the upstairs bathroom but her daughter's boyfriend said it was from his cut foot.

The mother said her daughter had been ill for some time but she had not suspected she was pregnant and various visits to her doctor had not revealed the pregnancy.

She said: “I said 'do you think you could be pregnant?' Not that I thought that she was, and she said 'no I don't.”

The baby's body was initially dumped in an alleyway covered with leaves and grass near the girl's home in the Eye area of Suffolk, the court heard.

It was then placed in a sports bag and the girl's 16-year-old boyfriend dialled 999 and said his girlfriend had given birth at 2am and the baby had died.

Both the teenagers, now 16 and 17, and who cannot be named for legal reasons, deny murder.

The court heard that the baby boy suffered a fractured skull and a broken arm which the prosecution say could not have been caused accidentally.

The girl's mother said she questioned the boyfriend after the baby was discovered and he said he thought his girlfriend's pain was due to food poisoning.

The woman told the court her daughter and the boy had been sharing a double bed at her home for about a year. And that she had discussed contraception with them.

The trial continues.