Newcastle, England - A disturbed young woman has been sentenced to four years detention for killing her six-month-old baby by banging her head against a wall.
Sarah Allison was due to stand trial for murder but in April the Crown Prosecution Service accepted a guilty plea to infanticide and the 19year-old was sentenced yesterday at the Crown Court in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Outlining the case in April, Mr Toby Hedworth QC told the court that baby Corey was on a social services register for "at-risk" children at the time of her death because of her mother's mental history. She had suffered from postnatal depression since the birth of Corey in September 1999, and was unable to cope after her partner was jailed.
The woman stood motionless and silent between two psychiatric nurses in the dock while being sentenced. She was sent to a young offenders' institute but the judge told her she would serve her time in a hospital being treated for her psychiatric problems.