'Severely-depressed' mum who killed her baby in Leeds park detained in secure hospital
A mum who killed her five-month-old baby in a Leeds park during a bout of severe post-natal depression has been detained in a secure hospital.
Hayley Macfarlane convinced herself she had “failed” her daughter Evelyn and despite treatment for “severe depression” and psychosis, smothered the youngster by placing a Muslin cloth over her face while out walking in Woodhouse Moor Park on the afternoon of December 20 last year.
Today at Sheffield Crown Court the 39-year-old was given a hospital order after admitting a charge of infanticide - the unlawful killing of a baby due to diminished responsibility. She was told she will remain in a secure unit under the Section 37 of the Mental Health Act, with a restriction order under section 41. Macfarlane sobbed throughout her sentencing hearing.
High Court judge, the Honourable Justice Lambert DBE concluded that Macfarlane was suffering from post-partum psychosis with depression, and that she was in a “psychotic state” when she killed her baby.
She said that it would “impossible” to say how long she will be remain detained, but is likely to ream in hospital for “two or three years” before her release is even considered. The Secretary of State would also need to approve her release.
She told Macfarlane: “You acknowledge the enormity of what you have done and the devastation your offending has caused Evelyn’s father and your wider family. I’m satisfied, but for your condition, you would not have harmed your baby.
“You have never acted violently in the past and character references speak of your caring and gentle nature.”
Macfarlane was initially charged with murder which she denied and a trial date was set. But during a hearing last month, she pleaded guilty to infanticide which was accepted by the Crown.
Prosecuting the case during a previous hearing, Craig Hassall KC said that despite her baby born healthy in July last year, Macfarlane became “preoccupied” with her health and that she was somehow responsible for impeding the youngster’s development.
Mr Hassall said: “She was absolutely certain she was failing Evelyn and was not caring for her properly. She refused to accept she was unwell, but only she had failed.”
Not long after her baby was born, Macfarlane referred herself to her GP and was prescribed antidepressants, but had major reservations about taking them and how it would affect her baby while breastfeeding.
With her mental state deteriorating, on November 2, she was with Evelyn at their home on Carrington Street in Barnsley, where she filled the sink and placed Evelyn into the water, but then “came to”. She put the youngster in her bouncer chair and briefly left the house. She later said she had thoughts of drinking cleaning fluid.
She voluntarily admitted herself to the psychiatric unit at Fieldhead Hospital in Wakefield where it was agreed she should not be with her baby. She became very depressed, withdrawn from her family and and was fixated on the idea that she had stunted her baby’s development.
Doctors said there was evidence of psychosis. She was transferred to a specialist mother and baby unit at The Mount in Leeds, where she was prescribed antipsychotic medication, but again had reservations about how it would affect Evelyn.
However, after taking a low dose she began to improve and appeared “more relaxed”, the court heard. But having being detained for 28 days - the maximum number permitted under the Mental Health Act - and having improved, she was discharged but voluntarily stayed at the unit.
On December 20, a Christmas party was held at the unit, attended by Macfarlane and Evelyn, and was described as being in a “bright mood”. She then left the building with Evelyn in her pram shortly before 4pm, saying she was going for a walk. She was permitted to leave the unit unaccompanied due to the progress it was thought she had made.
She spoke to her husband and was “excited about being home for Christmas”, Mr Hassall said. It was a short time later she sent him as message which read: “I want you know how much I love you, the life we have created and dream of, including our beautiful little girl.”
Shortly afterwards, she rang him while he was driving and told him to pull over, chillingly telling him: “She’s gone.” She then rang the police and told them she had killed her daughter.
Having told the arriving officers that she should be “taken away”, she made a full confession during subsequent interviews. Mr Hassall said: “At no point and at any stage since December 20 has she sought to deny any responsibility.”
Giving evidence in court, psychiatrist Dr Surak Shenoy confirmed that Macfarlane was suffering from post-natal depression and psychosis.
Mitigating, her barrister, Louise Blackwell said that doctors had “failed to recognise the level of psychosis”. She added: “Any element of stress has a considerable effect of slipping back into psychosis.”
She pointed to Christmas approaching, and the fact Macfarlane had only begun taking the antipsychotic medication.
She said that Macfarlane had “longed for“ her daughter who was “very loved”. Mrs Blackwell also said a letter in support of Macfarlane showed she was a deeply caring woman, but has a “level of perfectionism in everything she does”.