Severely-depressed mum who killed her baby in Leeds park rang husband to say: 'She's gone'
A mother suffering from severe post-natal depression and psychosis smothered her five-month-old baby in a public Leeds park, then rang her husband to tell him: “She’s gone”.
Hayley Macfarlane convinced herself she had “failed” Evelyn and fatally injured the tot on the afternoon of December 20 last year in Woodhouse Moor Park.
In a desperately sad text message she sent to her husband on that day, she said: “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.
The 39-year-old appeared at Sheffield Crown Court this morning for sentencing after admitting infanticide - the unlawful killing of a child under 12 months by its mother while her mind was “disturbed”.
Macfarlane, 39, was initially charged with murder which she denied and a trial date was set. But during a hearing earlier this month, she pleaded guilty to infanticide which was accepted by the Crown.
Prosecuting the case, 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 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 went downstairs with Evelyn at her home on Carrington Street in Barnsley, where she filled the sink and placed Evelyn in 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 She became very depressed, withdrawn from her family and and was fixated on the idea that she had stunted her baby’s development.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 go out 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 the text message, then rang her husband and the police.
Having told the arriving officers it was “awful”, “terrible” and 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.
Presiding over the sentencing hearing this morning, High Court judge, the Honourable Justice Lambert DBE was uncertain if the sentencing hearing would conclude today. The hearing continues.