202403291 B4 - [2025] EWCA Crim 1135

Summary of the background facts:

The appellant, aged in her mid-20s at the material time, has three children, of whom C is the youngest.

When C was only 6 weeks old, she suffered a brain injury which left her blind and severely disabled with cerebral palsy. She was admitted to hospital on a number of occasions. She had feeding difficulties. From September 2018 she was fed through a jejunal tube which went into her small bowel, the jejunum, without going into the stomach. Food was slowly pumped by a machine through the tube. She was later fitted with a gastric bag which received stomach secretions.

Another consequence of C’s cerebral palsy was that on occasions she suffered dystonia, a condition which involves muscle spasms.

In late 2019, C was significantly underweight. She was admitted to the “D” hospital on 20 November 2019. Nine days later, C was transferred to the “E” hospital.

The appellant spent long periods at the E hospital each day until her arrest on 12 December 2019. Other members of the family visited C at night time.