New Eltham: Infanticide case against girl, 16, thrown out by prosecutors

A 16-year-old girl accused of infanticide has had her case thrown out by prosecutors who decided it was not in the public interest to go to trial.

The girl had pleaded not guilty to infanticide at the Old Bailey.

The baby boy died on 29 January 2022 in New Eltham, south-east London after the girl took him outside and left him in the winter cold unclothed.

The court heard she is now well-supported by her family and has fully engaged with youth offending services.

The prosecution declined to present any evidence at Thursday's hearing in order to close the case.

Defence barrister Stephen Nelson said in his 46 years of practising law he has "never dealt with a case like it".

The girl, who cannot be named due to her age, got pregnant at 14 years old and had the baby at 15, and the court heard the infant allegedly died "at a time when her [the defendant's] mind was unstable, having not fully recovered from the birth of her child".

Judge Richard Marks KC said: "This has been a difficult and very unhappy and stressful challenge in [the young girl's] life.

"I'm sure that with support and her family in particular that she will be able to put all this behind her, I have much hope that this is the case."

Mr Nelson told the court that had her aunt, who sat with her on video link, been supporting the child at the time, then the incident may never have happened.

Speaking outside the Old Bailey earlier, the defence barrister said the family had a shrine to the baby.

Mr Nelson said it was a "very difficult case".

"I have no criticism of the prosecution, either in the decision they took initially to prosecution and the decision to offer no evidence," he said.

"One thing the public should really understand is that this was a young lady who was in deep distress."

He added that the girl was in "enormous pain" and had "lost a lot of blood".

"You have also got to remember that she fell pregnant when she was 14, the birth was just after her 15th birthday, and it was plain that she was not thinking as an adult would do, or as you would in your rational mind," he added

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]