A 19-year-old found guilty of murdering her baby son hours after giving birth has been jailed for at least 12 years [1].
A trial heard Paris Mayo, then 15, suffocated the boy, Stanley, by stuffing cotton wool into his throat.
Mayo delivered him alone at her family home in Ross-on-Wye, in March 2019, while her parents were upstairs. She had hidden the pregnancy from her parents.
“Killing your baby son was a truly dreadful thing to do,” said the judge, Mr Justice Garnham, passing the sentence.
The trial heard she had assaulted Stanley, leaving him with injuries comparable to those seen in a car crash.
“How you did this is not clear, but I suspect you crushed his head, probably beneath your foot,” the judge told Mayo.
Her initial assault caused him “serious damage”, but did not kill him, the judge added.
“He remained alive and continued to breathe for at least an hour. You decided you had to finish Stanley off by stuffing cotton wool balls into his throat.”