Mum shook her 10-week-old daughter to death hours after telling social worker ‘you want my baby, then take her’
A MUM told a social worker “you want to take her, then take her” hours before shaking her baby to death.
Lily-Mai Saint George suffered 18 rib fractures, two fractures in her leg and severe bruising when she died from a serious head injury.
The ten-week-old had been released into the care of her mum Lauren Saint George, 25, against the advice of hospital staff just six days before she died.
Saint George wept as she was today found guilty of infanticide following a trial
She was cleared of murder, manslaughter and cruelty to a person under 16.
Infanticide is an alternative verdict to murder where a mother kills her child while her mind is disturbed by a failure to recover from the effects of childbirth.
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Lily Mai’s dad Darren Hurrell, also 25, was cleared of cruelty by neglect.
The Old Bailey heard how medical staff at Barnet Hospital were left horrified when Lily Mai was sent to live with her mum and Hurrell.
They believed Saint George barely cared about her daughter’s welfare after she was born prematurely and was incapable of properly looking after her.
Four days after the baby was born, the new mum refused to visit her as she was having her dinner.
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When she finally made her way to the ward where the tot was being cared for, Saint George stood with her back to her.
The mum also told staff she “hated” the noises Lily Mai made and wished she would “cry instead of groaning”.
Three referrals to social services were made while the baby was still in hospital expressing concern.
Alicia Jack, former social services manager at Enfield council, dismissed the first referral as there was “no information” on their system about the family.
She investigated the second referral but decided no further action was needed, while the third was not acted upon as the parents had moved and were now under the charge of Haringey Council.
Despite the concerns, Lily Mai went to live with her parents in Duckett’s Green, North London, on January 22.
Two social workers and a health visitor went to the couple’s home in the following days.
Saint George flipped at one worker and swore when she said the mum and baby would need to go in a unit or Lily Mai would be taken into care.
She then told social worker Theresa Ferguson “you want to take her, then take her”.
Around five hours later, Lily Mai was rushed to hospital where she tragically died two days later after her life support was switched off.
Medics found she had been violently shaken and her leg was twisted.
Prosecutor Sally O’Neill QC said: “Lily-Mai’s death could almost definitely have been avoided if she had not been discharged into the care of two people who were woefully unsuited to caring for her.”