A mother who threw her newborn son onto a balcony moments after giving birth was in extreme pregnancy denial, a court has heard.
Sarah Jayne Barron has pleaded guilty to infanticide after Noah Taylor’s body was found in a neighbour’s garden in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset on December 12, 2020.
Eight days earlier, the 34-year-old had given birth to the boy in the flat toilet she shared with her partner before dropping him 15ft in the garden.
Noah was found to have died from a blunt impact to the head consistent with a fall from a height, Bristol Crown Court heard.
He is said to have lived up to half an hour after the trauma was inflicted.
Barron didn’t tell anyone about the pregnancy, the relationship and the financial pressures, which led her to develop a psychological disorder that meant she was “completely dissociated, mentally and physically” from the pregnancy.
Two consultant psychiatrists who assessed Barron found that she suffered from generalized denial of pregnancy, calling it a “classic case” of the disorder.
She was also found to have a low IQ and a reading age of 10 and 12 with ‘deficits in your verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning and processing speed’.
She was initially charged with murder, but the Crown later accepted a plea to infanticide, a form of manslaughter.
The judge said that while the offense carried a sentence of up to life in prison, “the law recognizes that what is required in this type of case is very often compassion, support and rehabilitation rather than punishment and retribution”.
During the hearing, Anne Vigars KC said Noah was found by Barron’s neighbor, who called the police.
When first questioned, Barron denied ever being pregnant, but later said she had had a miscarriage.
She later admitted what she had done to police, saying she feared the baby did not belong to her partner.
Her partner Phillip Taylor had been out shopping for Barron painkillers when she gave birth.
In a statement written by Mr Taylor and read out in court by Ms Vigars, he said the incident had had an impact on him and his family and he described it as ‘the worst time of my life’.
He said Noah’s funeral in January 2023 was the only opportunity he had to “carry and hold” his child.
He added: “If I had known Sarah was pregnant or had come home in time to find out she had given birth, I would have helped and supported her.”
“Even though I’ve been through hell, I want Sarah to get the help she needs.”
Charles Row KC, defending Barron, said: “The circumstances of this case could hardly be more harrowing.”
Mr Row said Barron was homeless for a time in 2019 during which time she started taking antidepressants. She then got into a relationship with Mr Taylor and moved in with him shortly before the first coronavirus lockdown.
He said during the lockdown she was working in a low paid job and under a huge amount of stress, earning £8.72 an hour on night shifts.
Mr Row said: ‘She seems to have been completely detached from the reality of her situation. In her mind, she created the story of a miscarriage. It was out of sight, out of mind. She carried on almost as usual and returned to work.
“She remains in a state of emotional fragility – the trauma of what she has done is still not fully realized by her. She still can’t come to terms with what she did.
The Honorable Judge Linden handed Barron a three-year community order with pardon and barred him from working with children and vulnerable adults.
Speaking to Barron, Judge Linden said: ‘You were in a state of extreme denial about the pregnancy, so much so that you were practically oblivious to it. So you were very shocked when you went into labor.
“Your mind has been disturbed by an acute stress reaction and dissociative disorder. And that’s what made you act the way you did.
“When you came to give birth, things came to a head. You were in extreme shock and panicked.
“Noah’s life and his sufferings should not be forgotten. But the attenuation in this case, as in most such cases, is powerful.
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