‘Educated woman’ killed her newborn baby then went back to work

Joanne Sharkey pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Baby Callum more than 25 years after the baby was found dead in woodland

An “educated woman” killed her newborn son and returned to her job as a council worker before keeping his death a secret for more than 25 years. The body of the infant, who came to be known as Baby Callum, was discovered in woodland close to Gulliver’s World in Warrington on March 14 1998.

Joanne Sharkey, of Denham Close in Croxteth, was subsequently charged with murdering the newborn, who was seemingly minutes old when he was suffocated, and concealing the birth of a child in April 2024. But the 55-year-old admitted manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility, as well as concealing the birth of a child, on the day she was due to stand trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

These pleas were deemed acceptable by the Crown Prosecution Service, with the count of murder not being pursued further by the prosecution after it was deemed that the post-natal depression she had been suffering following the birth of her first child “substantially impaired her ability to form rational judgement and exercise self control”. She returned to the same court to be sentenced today Friday.

Jonas Hankin KC, prosecuting, described Sharkey as an “educated” woman who studied accountancy at Derby Polytechnic and, in the late 1990s, worked as a housing benefits officer for West Lancashire Council. She and her now husband Neil first began their relationship as teenagers and went on to have a son, Matthew, in July 1996.

Mr Hankin said: “It is apparent that Mrs Sharkey soon found the combination of a full-time job and motherhood challenging. She has since been diagnosed as suffering from post-natal depression.

“She told her work colleague and friend Amanda Harper that she did not want any more children after Matthew. Nevertheless, the defendant became pregnant again in the summer of 1997. She did not tell her husband.

“She was 28 years old when she gave birth to her second child in secret in March 1998. She had continued to work in the office full-time throughout the second pregnancy, until she went into labour. She returned to work soon after delivering the infant and disposing of his body.”

Mr Hankin went on to detail how the baby’s body was discovered in woodland close to the theme park on March 14 1998 wrapped inside two black plastic bin bags. Three days earlier, a retired man had been walking his dog in this same area when he saw a “young, upset woman walking quickly out of the woods and onto the driveway to Gulliver’s World” before driving away in a car.

He meanwhile noticed a bin bag lying on the ground nearby but “did not interfere” with the item. The following Saturday morning, another dogwalker became “curious” about the same item, picked it up and “punctured it with a stick” to discover the deceased infant.

This man then walked the short distance to the theme park in order to seek assistance, with a paediatrician who was, by chance, present subsequently confirming the death. A post-mortem investigation later found that the baby was full term but had suffered bruising the the head, face and neck and had wads of tissue paper lodged within his mouth and throat.

Innocent teenagers were arrested as part of murder probe

The prosecution silk continued: “Enquiries were made with local hospitals, general practitioners, midwives and other medical facilities. House to house enquiries and enquiries at local shops and public houses were made.

“A poster publicity campaign was initiated, concentrating in areas of high-density population in Warrington. A mail drop to houses in surrounding areas appealing for further public assistance was conducted via the Royal Mail.

“Because the National Crime Agency’s offender profile suggested the mother to be a young woman, enquiries were made at the three schools closest to the scene. A list was compiled of absentees from those schools on March 13 1998, which was considered, at that time, to be the most likely date of the birth.

“It was decided to obtain swabs from all absentees in order to eliminate them from the enquiry. Some young women were named by members of their own families to be suspected of being the mother of the baby.

“They were arrested, but swabs eliminated them. Women who were drawn into this investigation are seen to this day commenting on social media about how it affected them.

“The deceased infant was buried on the 27 of July 1998. The Asda superstore close to the deposition site arranged a collection to pay for his funeral and headstone with approximately 150 local people attending, including the Mayor of Warrington. The baby was given the name Callum after the Callands district of Warrington in which his body had been discovered.

“Over the years press releases were made by Cheshire Police to encourage the provision of new information, but nothing was offered. Each time such efforts were made, it provoked a strong response from locals about their memories of the time. There can be no doubt that the impact in the local community as a result of these events has been significant.”

Older son’s arrest led to mum finally being traced

It was only in 2023, during a “periodic review” of the cold case by Cheshire Police, that it was identified that Matthew Sharkey’s profile had been added to the national DNA database following his “arrest for an unrelated offence”. This led to Sharkey and her husband being arrested on July 25 that year, at which stage she told officers: “He knows nothing about it.”

The couple were then placed into the back of a police car, at which stage a covert recording captured her telling Mr Sharkey: “I’m not f***ing gonna deny nothing. It is what it is, isn’t it? I f***ing did it.”

Sharkey was then interviewed over the course of the following two days and told detectives that she “thought she was pregnant” but was “not sort of acknowledging the fact”. She recalled that she was able to hide her pregnancy as she and her husband were “ships that passed in the night” due to his shifts, while she concealed her weight gain by wearing “bigger clothes” and “keeping everyone at arm’s length”.

The birth itself was to have occurred in the bathroom of their home and been “quite easy, quick”. Sharkey believed that her husband had been out with then 20-month-old Matthew out at the time, adding: “I just had to make him quiet. He’s making a noise, just a little snuffly sort of, starting to cry noise, not massively loud. Not a full blown infant cry, just a whimpery sort of cry.

“I sort of reached down. I must have been on the floor at this point. I’ve covered his nose, his mouth. It just couldn’t make that noise, just to be quiet. I knew I just had to, it had to be quiet. Then he was quiet.

“I’ve wrapped the infant up. I can’t think how long he was in the house for. Was he a day? Was he two days. I don’t know. I must have cleaned it up at some point. I think, if it’s the bathroom, it’s just been mopped and cleaned. I think I’d realised I just had to get him out of the house then.”

Sharkey stated that she went on to place the baby’s body into her car and drove “to nowhere in particular, just driving” and ended up leaving him in a “grassy, quite rural area”. She said that she had thought about the events “a million times”, but continued: “How would you say it? I couldn’t actually say the words

“It’s not easy to live with, all that time. I thought this would happen. You don’t get away with everything forever. It’s haunting, something you think about every single day. You try and push it out, but it creeps back in. You carry on with your life and you go to work, and you do Christmas, and you do Easter. But this is always in your head.”

Sharkey went on to label her actions as “horrendous, the worst thing ever” and said she was “terrified that somebody would be knocking on the door”, adding: “You’re waiting for it. One day, it’s gonna happen. And then it did happen. It’s been a bit of a relief to be fair. I feel sick to the stomach for what I’ve done. It’s out. It’s come off my chest.”

Following her belated identification, forensic psychiatrists concluded that Sharkey had been suffering from post-natal depression after the birth of her first child and that she “resorted to a process of denial” of her second pregnancy as she was “fearful of becoming mother to another child”.

Mr Hankin added of this evidence: “It is agreed between the parties that the defendant developed a depressive illness which became associated with particular features of her personality that are relevant to her tendency to avoidant behaviour.

“It is agreed between the psychiatrists that a moderately severe depressive illness substantially impaired her ability to form a rational judgment and to exercise self control, although there is a dispute about whether it also substantially impaired her ability to understand the nature of her actions.

“It is agreed that this abnormality played a part in causing her to act as she did in killing her child. Her mental state provides more limited mitigation for her actions in endeavouring to conceal the birth of her child.”

Mental health support groups and helplines

PANDAS is a charity that supports anyone who may be suffering with perinatal mental illness, including prenatal (antenatal) and postnatal depression, and their families. The charity has a free, bookable call service available. You can visit their website here or email supportme@pandasfoundation.org.uk

Samaritans (116 123) operates a 24-hour service available every day of the year. If you prefer to write down how you’re feeling, or if you’re worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org.

Mind (0300 123 3393) is a charity providing advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. They campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding.

She gave birth alone, panicked, terrified and in pain

Wearing a white cardigan, having carried a small suitcase into the dock, and with her brown hair pinned up with a clip, Sharkey dabbed her eyes with a tissue throughout the hearing. Nina Grahame KC, defending, said on her behalf: “Mrs Sharkey has, of course been impacted in terms of her mental health by these proceedings.

“We do not suggest that the type of condition she was suffering from at the time has continued until now, but the impact of these proceedings has been enormous.

“Mrs Sharkey made the fullest possible admissions she was able to make in her lengthy interviews. Those admissions in interview are, we suggest, a powerful and important feature of mitigation in this case, not easy and taking a great deal of courage.

“The question ultimately is whether immediate custody is unavoidable, or whether a suspended sentence would be the more appropriate disposal. That is the course we urge you to consider taking in this case.

“It is right to say that Mrs Sharkey is an educated woman. It is right to say that she is also a much loved wife and mother, and a valued colleague and friend.

“Given these qualities, this positive good character that she did have, she could, and we suggest would, without doubt, have taken steps to seek help after the birth of her son Matthew had she been able to do so. Her mental condition led to distorted thought processes regarding the potential consequences resulting in her losing the child she already had.

“She took none of the steps that an intelligent woman would be expected to do. She took no steps to protect herself from the tragic horror of what happened thereafter. She gave birth alone, panicked, terrified and in pain. It is inconceivable that she would have done this, were it not for this mental illness.

“Mrs Sharkey’s remorse is evident in every minute of those interviews. She bears the burden now of a family that, frankly, has been fractured to its very core. The defence says, if critical comment were to be made of Joanne Sharkey’s failure to come forward, perhaps one can be compassionate enough to consider the devastation that this would bring on the people she loved.

“So, she lived with this. She has remembered what she did every single day. Her remorse is genuine and absolute. We say this cannot be in doubt.”

Sharkey ultimately was not sentenced today due to a lack of court time. She will now instead learn her fate on either April 3 or 4, and was released on conditional bail until this date.”

High Court judge Mrs Justice Eady told her: “This is a case where I need to reflect on what I have heard. I am not in a position to go on to pass sentence this afternoon.

“I appreciate the stress that will cause you and your family members. I am sorry about that, but it is more important if I make sure that I make the right decision rather than trying to rush things on a Friday afternoon.”