A MUM who didn’t know she was pregnant accidentally killed her baby when she collapsed on her after giving birth, an inquest heard.
Lisa Blagden (20), had lost blood and passed out after delivering Ivory Rose in her bathroom at home.
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Tragically, the “desperate” young woman was unable to revive the baby girl following the “traumatic and sad sequence of events”.
An inquest found that Blagden cut the umbilical cord using a pair of scissors. She wrapped the baby in a towel, and hidden her inside a bush.
Ivory Rose, a Primark towel, was later found on the street in Portsmouth (Hants) in December 2019.
Lisa, who previously pleaded guilty to concealing the baby’s death, avoided jail earlier this year after a judge found she was “blameless” over the horror.
The court was told police interviewed the baby’s dad, an unnamed 50-year-old, who had “no interest in the baby’s birth or death”.
Senior coroner Christopher Wilkinson said today the mum showed a “strong nurturing instinct as a mother” despite the initial shock of giving birth.
According to the inquest, she had held her baby girl and cuddled it before laying her down on the floor.
Mr Wilkinson added: “She fell when her newborn child was resting on the floor and the result of that was, a few minutes later when she came round, she found her child underneath her.
“Ivory Rose came about her death as a result of, in effect, suffocation or lack of respiratory ability after her mother sadly collapsed on top of her.
“That was entirely unexpected, entirely unintentional and it was a desperate, tragic end to a very short life which I know has had a significant effect of her mother and wider family.”
The coroner said there was “no suggestion she projected ill will on to the child” and explained Lisa was just in a “desperate” situation.
“Fearful” The mother panicked at what was to happen and buried her baby outside.
TRAGIC END
Lisa previously told how she visited tragic Ivory Rose “every single day until she was found” for four weeks after the tragedy.
Initial interviews with Lisa’s mother and sister were conducted by police as they opened a probe. However, they determined that no one living in the house was pregnant.
However, DNA samples proved that Lisa was the baby’s mother and she was taken into custody.
Lisa had no idea that she was pregnant, as she had her periods and had lost weight.
She tried to tell her mom what had happened, but her dad stopped her.
Lisa, whose dad revealed is “getting a bit better”, was said to have been “punished far, far greater” than any sentence when she appeared in court in April.
Becky Strong, who was representing, said that she saw Lisa as a vulnerable, scared girl and didn’t believe she could seek help from anyone.
“Her decisions, or lack of decisions at the time will haunt her.”
At the earlier sentencing hearing, DDJ Roderick Hine decided to give Blagden an absolute discharge, stating “she has already suffered enough punishment”.
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