Fri, 23 Jun 2023
Paris Mayo was 15 when she gave birth to her son in 2019, after concealing both the pregnancy and birth.
The defendant claimed that she did not know she was pregnant before giving birth. However, expert evidence from both a midwife and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology demonstrated that Miss Mayo would have known she was pregnant.
The jury at Worcester Crown Court heard how Miss Mayo inflicted complex skull fractures upon her son and suffocated him by stuffing several balls of cotton wool into his mouth and throat, blocking his airway. The first piece was forced down so deeply that it was only discovered at autopsy.
The court also heard how after giving birth in secret and in silence at her family home in Ross-on-Wye, Miss Mayo placed her son’s body in a bin bag before leaving it on the front doorstep and going to bed. The baby was discovered by Miss Mayo’s mother the following morning.
Additional medical experts were also deployed in the fields of Perinatal Pathology, Radiology, Osteoarticular Pathology, Neuropathology and Neonatology. Experts opined it was likely that baby Mayo had been alive for a couple of hours, taken breaths and may also have cried.
Miss Mayo will be sentenced on 26th June.
Jonas and Chloe were instructed by Kate Seal of the West Midlands Complex Casework Unit
To read more about this case please visit: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/23/teenager-guilty-baby-herefordshire-hide-pregnancy-paris-mayo or https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-66000814
