A woman who suffocated her newborn baby left his body in woodland and hid the killing from her husband for 25 years until police showed up, a court has heard.
Joanne Sharkey, 55, pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility over the death of the baby boy, who was named Callum by police.
His body was found wrapped in plastic by a dog walker close to Gulliver’s World theme park in Warrington, Cheshire, on March 14 1998.
The infant was believed to have only been a few hours old when he was strangled and beaten over the head.
The mum managed to keep the secret for 25 years, including from her husband, until police questioned her in July 2023.
She told officers she kept her pregnancy a secret and when the baby was born in the bathroom of her house in Croxteth, Liverpool, she heard him starting to make a noise and covered his nose and mouth ‘to make him quiet’.
After baby Callum was found, he was buried with no family members present in Warrington Cemetery, with the headstone reading: ‘Baby Callum, a precious child of God.
‘With the love from the people of Warrington.’
When she killed the baby, Sharkey was suffering from post-natal depression after the birth of her first son in 1996, Liverpool Crown Court heard.
Prosecution barrister Jonas Hankin KC said psychiatrists agreed Sharkey was ‘fearful of becoming a mother to another child’ and developed a depressive illness which ‘substantially impaired (her) ability to form rational judgment and exercise self-control’.
Sharkey was a married 28-year-old housing benefit officer at West Lancashire Council when Callum was born.
Mr Hankin told the court: ‘It’s apparent Mrs Sharkey soon found the combination of a full-time job and motherhood challenging, and she has since been diagnosed as suffering from post-natal depression during that period.
‘She told a work colleague and friend Amanda Harper she didn’t want any more children. Nevertheless she became pregnant in the summer of 1997. She did not tell her husband.’
The court heard that on March 12 1998, a man saw a young woman walking quickly out of the woods who looked ‘upset’.
The man walked into the woods near Gulliver’s World and saw a black bin bag lying on the ground to the left of the track but did not touch it, Mr Hankin said.
Two days later a dog walker saw the same bag, was curious about what was inside and punctured it with a stick to find the body of an infant inside, the judge was told.
The court heard the baby, who was given the name Callum after the Callands district of Warrington in which his body had been discovered, was taken to Warrington General Hospital, where a pathologist found him to be a ‘normally developed, full-term infant’ with no structural abnormality or natural disease.
He found a number of bruises over the infant’s face, head and neck, and wads of tissue in his mouth.
Mr Hankin said DNA profiles from the tissue paper and blood staining on the bin bag were taken and stored on a national database.
The prosecutor said police made checks with hospitals, general practice surgeries, midwives and other medical facilities, conducted house-to-house visits and made inquiries at shops, pubs and three local schools.
He told the court: ‘Some young women were named by their own families as potential candidates for the mother of the baby. They were arrested but eliminated after a DNA comparison.’
He added: ‘It was not until 2023, during a periodic review of the national database, that the DNA profile of Matthew Sharkey, Joanne Sharkey’s first child, whose DNA had by that time been uploaded to the national DNA database because he had been arrested for an unrelated offence – his profile was found to be a close match to that of the infant.’
The court heard DNA samples were taken from Joanne and Neil Sharkey, who were identified as the biological parents, and Sharkey was arrested for murder in July 2023, telling officers her husband ‘knows nothing about it’.
Mr Hankin said: ‘While Mr and Mrs Sharkey were in the back of a police car prior to being interviewed, a covert recording was made of a conversation between them during which Mrs Sharkey was heard to say “I’m not gonna f****** deny nothing, it is what it is isn’t it. I f****** did it”.’
Mr Hankin said Sharkey had never spoken about what happened, telling officers: ‘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 anything forever.
‘It’s haunting, something you think about every day. You try and push it out but it creeps back in. You carry on with your life, you go to work and you do Christmas and you do Easter but this is always in your head.’
The court heard two doctors gave the baby’s medical cause of death as ‘unascertained and could not determine whether he had been alive when the tissue was put in his mouth.
Nina Grahame KC, defending Sharkey, said: ‘Her primary intent throughout was concealment. That had been her intent since she became aware she was pregnant. The primary intent was concealment on the day itself.
‘The situation was unplanned, the giving birth was chaotic.’
She added: ‘Were it not for her mental illness it is inconceivable a woman such as Mrs Sharkey would have failed to care for her newborn child.’
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A statement from Neil Sharkey said he was ‘not the greatest husband and father’ when he was younger and Sharkey had ‘single-handedly raised Matthew to be one of the nicest people I’ve known’.
The statement read: ‘I blame myself for what happened as I was not the easiest person to live with… I’m supporting Joanne and always will.’
A statement from Matthew Sharkey said: ‘We as a family are supporting my mum and standing by her. I will always support my mum and stand by her as she is my mum and I am aware she was mentally ill at the time.’
Mrs Justice Eady will sentence Sharkey on a date to be fixed.
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