Essex mother jailed for life for murdering baby son with drugged milk
Emma Barnett, 36, poisoned her 14-month-old son Oakley with prescription drugs after a court ordered his removal. She received a minimum 22-year sentence.
Essex mother given life sentence after poisoning one-year-old son with prescription drugs
A 36-year-old woman from Essex has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 22 years for the murder of her one-year-old son, The Guardian UK reports. Emma Barnett, of Debden, Essex, poisoned her son Oakley by adding prescription medications to his milk and juice in a baby bottle, killing him after a family court had ordered that he be removed from her care.
Mr Justice Derek Sweeting, sentencing at Cambridge Crown Court on Friday, said: "This was the killing of a very young and vulnerable child wholly dependent on you brought about by your deliberate actions."
On 8 November 2024, Barnett joined a family court hearing remotely. Before the hearing began, she drove to Epping Forest and on the return journey collected medications that had been prescribed to her. She laid a false trail suggesting she had visited a friend's house and later gone to Epping Forest, while she was in fact concealing herself and Oakley in the loft of her home.
She added the antihistamine promethazine — which can induce sedation — and the antidepressant mirtazapine to the contents of Oakley's baby bottles.
Following the hearing, which confirmed the order for Oakley's removal, social workers and police began searching for Barnett. Her car was found at Epping Forest, prompting a search involving a helicopter and police dogs. Officers attended her address shortly before midnight and heard the sound of a baby crying from the loft. An officer attempted to talk Barnett down, but at 12.16am on 9 November the situation shifted. In response to a question from a police officer, Barnett said: "I killed him." Officers immediately forced entry and found Oakley unresponsive. Barnett had also attempted to take her own life.
Oakley, who was 14 months old, died in hospital on 31 December 2024.
The judge said he was "certain" Barnett had planned her own death in advance, and added: "I consider it at least possible it wasn't until 8 November you came to the view that if you could not have Oakley, no one else could have him."
Mr Justice Sweeting acknowledged that Barnett had a recognised mental health disorder. Her five older children had previously been removed from her care. Jonathan Higgs KC, mitigating, said those removals had occurred because she had been unable to look after them herself, and noted she was of previous good character.
Barnett had denied murder. She was found guilty last week following a trial.
Source: The Guardian UK