Mother of Baby Callum set to be sentenced for his manslaughter today
Earlier this month, Joanne Sharkey admitted to killing the newborn baby and dumping his body in Warrington woodland 27 years ago in 1998.
The 55-year-old, of Denham Close in Croxteth, Liverpool, was due to stand trial, having initially denied charges of murder and concealing the birth of her child.
She was identified as the mother of the infant following a breakthrough in the cold case police investigation, after a relative’s DNA was flagged up following an unrelated incident.
But she changed her plea to guilty on birth concealment charge at Liverpool Crown Court on March 6.
This alternative charge plea was accepted by the Crown based on medical evidence, specifically psychiatric reports.
Sentencing was adjourned to today in order for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.
Callum, a newborn whose name was given to him by the community, was found dead on March 14, 1998, in a wooded area of the Callands district of Warrington.
READ> How Joanne Sharkey was caught and convicted 27 years on
His body was discovered at around 11am, wrapped in a black plastic bin bag near to Gulliver’s World theme park.
He was named Baby Callum by the community after the area of Warrington in which he was found.
Following an investigation spanning more than two decades, Cheshire Police confirmed last year that officers had arrested a man and a woman on suspicion of murder.
The man, Baby Callum’s father was released without charge, having been unaware of the existence, birth, and death of his child, but Sharkey was rearrested last April and charged with murder and concealing the birth of a child.
Following Sharkey’s relative’s arrest in January 2022, a partial DNA match was found, with investigations turning to Starkey – which provided a full match confirming that she is the mother of Baby Callum.
The Crown Prosecution Service has said that medical evidence concluded that Sharkey was suffering from an ‘abnormality of mental functioning at the time of the offence’.
This ‘arose out of a medical condition, and this abnormality substantially impaired her ability to form a rational judgement and to exercise self-control’.
“This caused or was a significant contributory factor in causing her to kill her newborn child,” a CPS spokesman said.
The Warrington Guardian plans to provide live coverage from the courtroom of the sentencing hearing.
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