Mother jailed for murdering her toddler son
It happened in 2024
Last updated 1 day ago
A mother, who poisoned her toddler son with a lethal cocktail of prescription medications added to milk in a baby bottle, has been jailed for life, with a minimum term of 22 years, for his murder.
Emma Barnett, 36, of Debden, Essex, killed her one year-old son Oakley, before he could be taken into care after a family court hearing ordered that he be removed from her.
The judge, Mr Justice Derek Sweeting, told Cambridge Crown Court that Barnett had arranged to join a family court hearing remotely on November 8 2024.
He said that before the hearing started she drove her car to Epping Forest and then collected medications that had been prescribed to her on the way home.
Barnett laid a false trail, creating the impression she had gone to a friend’s house and later to Epping Forest, when in fact she was hiding in the loft at her address with her son.
She added the antihistamine promethazine, which can induce sedation, and the antidepressant mirtazapine to juice and milk in Oakley’s baby bottles.
The judge said that following the family court hearing that ordered Oakley’s removal, social workers and police sought to find Barnett to remove Oakley.
“As the evening progressed concern grew for your welfare and Oakley’s safety,” the judge said.
He said that Barnett’s car was found at Epping Forest leading to a search with a helicopter and police dogs.
Police attended her address shortly before midnight and “heard the sound of a baby crying coming from the loft”, the judge said.
He said an officer tried to talk her down but at 12.16am on November 9 “the situation changed dramatically – in answer to a question from a police officer you said ‘I killed him’.”
The judge said officers “immediately forced entry” and found Oakley unresponsive and that Barnett had tried to take her own life.
Oakley died in hospital on December 31 2024.
The judge, sentencing Barnett to life in prison with a minimum term of 22 years, said: “This was the killing of a very young and vulnerable child wholly dependent on you brought about by your deliberate actions.”
He said he was “certain” Barnett had “set about planning (her) own death in advance”.
But he said: “I consider it at least possible it wasn’t until November 8 you came to the view if you could not have Oakley, no one else could have him.”
He acknowledged that she had a “recognised mental health disorder”, a personality disorder.
He said that her five older children “had already been removed” from her care.
Jonathan Higgs KC, mitigating, said the five children were removed “as she was unable to look after them herself”.
He said she was of previous good character.
Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC said Barnett had “accepted for weeks she knew the removal of Oakley was inevitable”.
He said Barnett had “rejected offers of help as she wanted to keep Oakley close to her so she could carry out her premeditate plan to kill Oakley then herself”.
He added that she made “substantial efforts to create a false trail to create the impression that she was not at home”, leaving her car in Epping Forest then walking home.
Mr Paxton said Barnett “had access to a phone that had a working camera” but connected to the court hearing without a camera.
She hid in the loft with Oakley and “had hidden numerous items in the loft in advance of the hearing itself”, he said.
He said that she collected prescription medications that “she was not by her own admission taking” and mixed them in a “child friendly way” in a baby bottle and syringe.
Oakley’s father Jake Rose said in a victim impact statement read to the court by the prosecutor that he was “heartbroken and devastated”.
“I’m not never going to see my little boy grow up,” he said.
He continued: “My life and heart is now always going to be filled with a massive void of never getting to know my precious boy.”
Barnett had denied murder but was found guilty following an earlier trial.
She showed no reaction as she was led to the cells.