Mother killed baby son returned by social services

A mother has been found guilty of killing her baby boy after social services gave him back to her.

Joanne Mallinder, 37, who suffered 13 miscarriages and a stillbirth before having baby Jack, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter on Friday.

The infant was taken to hospital from his home in Grays, Essex, after he stopped breathing on 13 February 2006.

Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital discovered the three-month-old had severe brain damage and six fractures to the arms and legs - injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome. Jack died of his injuries 13 months later in March last year.

Basildon crown court heard how Mallinder and her partner Gareth Cox, 32, were going to have the baby adopted but changed their mind when he was born in November 2005.

Jack was treated at hospital for two weeks as he weighed 4lb 10oz when born and then social services put him into care while the couple prepared for him.

A month after being born he was reunited with his parents, who both worked for a shipping company, at their one-bedroom flat. Just eight weeks later, ambulance crews were sent to the home, to find that the baby's heart had stopped and he was not breathing.

Mr Cox said the pregnancy was accidental, and financial problems, lack of space and his partner's problems with depression had made them consider adoption.

He told the court he left the flat in the evening of 13 February before getting a call from Mallinder saying Jack had stopped breathing. Mr Cox said: "She was screaming down the phone. I got back as quickly as I could. Jack wasn't breathing. There was fresh blood on his nose." He said he gave the baby mouth to mouth resuscitation until ambulance crews arrived and took him to Basildon Hospital. He was later transferred to Great Ormond Street.

The couple were arrested at Great Ormond Street on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, but no action was taken against Mr Cox. Mallinder was charged but it was upgraded to murder when Jack died. She will be sentenced next year at Luton crown court.

Thurrock council's head of children's services said "lessons had been learned" from Jack's death.