Woman who suffocated her newborn baby and left his body in woods in 1998 avoids prison
4 April 2025, 11:49 | Updated: 4 April 2025, 11:59
A woman who suffocated her newborn baby and left his body in woodland has been brought to justice nearly three decades later.
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Joanne Sharkey, 55, had pleaded guilty in March to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and endeavouring to conceal the birth of a child.
She was arrested 25 years after the body of her son was found inside two knotted bin bags.
Sharkey, a 28-year-old council worker at the time of baby Callum's death, was today given a two-year suspended prison sentence at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility.
Judge Mrs Justice Eady told her: "The real question is whether appropriate punishment can only be achieved by a term of immediate custody. Having carefully considered this issue, I am satisfied that this very sad case calls for compassion."
Sharkey killed her son while suffering severe post-natal depression. Cold case detectives identified her as the baby’s mother after they found a DNA match for her older son, who had been arrested on suspicion of an unrelated offence.
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Baby Callum was dumped in woodland in Warrington, Cheshire, wrapped inside two binbags on 11 March 1998.
Medical experts said Sharkey’s mental health had been ‘substantially impaired’ and she was not able to form rational judgements at the time she killed Callum.
Sharkey was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, and told she must undergo mental health treatment.
