Holiday mother 'kills her newborn baby'

A London mother was today charged with killing her newborn baby after she gave birth in a Crete hotel room.

The unnamed 20-year-old is accused of choking the baby to death during a holiday with her older sister, 24, and a 22-year-old friend.

Captain Manolis Petrakis of the Crete police said the woman arrived on the island last Thursday while eight-and-a-half-months pregnant but would deny that she was bearing a child. He said: "She was found in the room by her sister and another girlfriend who arrived on holiday with her a few days ago.

"They found the choked baby hidden in a towel, which she tried to present as a makeshift mop for cleaning up."

He said the three women flew in from London and stayed in one room at the Natalie hotel in Mallia, a popular package tour resort.

Describing events before the alleged choking, he said: "The culprit said she had a headache and felt unwell, so her sister and friend took her back to the room at 3.30 this morning and then left her there.

"When they came back, they saw the blood everywhere and the younger sister cleaning the tables and floor with a towel-mop, in which she had choked the baby." The police said the woman had been charged with "infant killing", which can be punished with up to 20 years in prison under Greek law.

The other two women are under police supervision to provide further testimony to the courts in Heraklion, the capital of Crete.

Captain Petrakis added: "A preliminary police investigation showed that the woman was in an advanced state of pregnancy, in fact eight and a half months, but this was not very obvious," he said.

"When asked by her friends if she was pregnant, she would deny it."

The 20-year-old woman is thought to have two other children.

The British embassy in Athens confirmed a woman was receiving consular assistance after the death of her child.