Baby killer set free

A mother today escaped jail despite killing her baby daughter by throwing her out of a window "to get her own back" on her boyfriend during a row.

Helen Patterson, 21, walked free from the Old Bailey after being given a three-year community probation order.

Ten-month-old Shedrina Patterson died from multiple injuries when she was thrown from a second floor window during a row between Patterson and Shedrina's father, Oswraine Bramble, at their Tottenham flat in August 2000.

During the trial last May, Sir John Nutting QC, prosecuting, said it was "an effort to draw attention to her plight and to get her own back on the man she thought was betraying her". Patterson denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The plea was accepted after psychiatric reports said she had depression and other mental problems.

Today, Judge Gerald Gordon said a prison sentence would not be in the public interest. Describing how Patterson visited her daughter's grave at least once a day, he said: "I am satisfied what you did to her will amount to permanent punishment."

Patterson must have psychiatric treatment and any child she has in future will be monitored by the authorities.