Mother burned baby to death

A depressed mother 'cremated' her baby son on the kitchen gas cooker after 'hearing voices telling her she was evil'.

Cheryl Green was found wandering naked in the street by a neighbour who discovered the three-week-old baby barely alive. It later died.

Yesterday, 40-year-old Green was told by Judge Christopher Moss at the Old Bailey that justice would not be served by punishing her.

Instead, he made council social workers her long-term guardians under the Mental Health Act.

Green, from Peckham, South London, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to the manslaughter of baby Mickle on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

She told health workers: 'I burnt the baby on the stove.' Edward Brown, prosecuting, said: 'She said she heard voices making her do it.'

Green suffered from long-term psychiatric illness which worsened after the birth of Mickle in April 2004. But her social services mental care coordinator thought she was 'exaggerating her anxiety in order to get extra attention' when she was checked, said Mr Brown.

Green saw a number of social and medical workers in the days before the incident but had not kept appointments or taken medication, he told the court.

David Fisher, QC, defending, said: 'These were not the calculating actions of an evil woman but the random actions of a woman with a severe mental disorder.'

Judge Moss said: 'This is not a case for punishment. The facts of this case are distressing and tragic.

'You caused the death of your much-loved infant son in a horrifying way.'

The judge said he hoped the King's College Hospital Trust and Southwark Council would review their procedures to see if they had met the needs of Green.