Help Sitemap Home Skip Navigation Contact Us Disability Statement

 
 
Thursday, 21st August 2008

Premium Article !

Your account has been frozen. For your available options click the below button.

Options

Premium Article !

To read this article in full you must have registered and have a Premium Content Subscription with the Press Association site.

Subscribe

Registered Article !

To read this article in full you must be registered with the site.

Baby death mother back in custody



Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image

A 20-year-old British mother accused of suffocating her newborn son in Crete is back in police custody.
Leah Andrew, from Hither Green, south-east London, was readmitted to hospital for tests after fainting on Thursday night at the end of a six-hour court hearing.

She has been charged with murder after allegedly killing her baby moments after giving
birth in a Malia hotel room.

On Thursday in Heraklion, Crete's capital, she was ordered by a magistrate to serve pre-trial detention. It is understood this could last up to a year.

After fainting, Andrew, who has two other young children, was taken from court at about 8pm on a stretcher, covered in a foil blanket.

Iraklio University State Hospital spokesman Dr Christos Melas said: "She was examined by a cardiologist and a pathologist. Both doctors said she didn't have anything wrong with her and she returned to police custody."

He said her father, Isaac, and an aunt were with her. Before the private hearing, Mr Andrew, 54, told reporters: "My daughter did not kill her child. I cannot say (what happened) because I was not there, but what they are accusing her of doing I don't think she did."

He said he and his wife had known she was pregnant for about two months.

Police found the dead baby, weighing 5lb 8oz, in a room on the island's Natali hotel in the early hours of Monday morning. A coroner said the baby, which was discovered wrapped in sheets, showed signs of suffocation.

Andrew had been on a night out with her 24-year-old sister, Lydia, and a friend, before returning to the hotel room alone at about 3.30am, where she gave birth.



Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2008, All Rights Reserved.



The full article contains 308 words and appears in Press Association newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 25 July 2008 11:52 AM
  • Source: Press Association
  • Location: The Press Association Newsdesk
 
 
  

 
 


Sister Newspapers:
Press Complaints Commission

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Press Complaints Commission’s Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the PCC by clicking here.