A MOTHER whose new-born daughter was found dead after being wrapped in a carrier bag and abandoned has walked free from court after a judge said she deserved pity not punishment.

Marysia Margaret Greenwood, 24, wept as she was given a three-month probation order after pleading guilty to infanticide.

Prosecuting lawyer Heather Lloyd told Preston Crown Court that Greenwood had insisted to police and doctors that she had never known she was pregnant until she gave birth in the early hours of the morning last December.

Her mother and brother, who lived with her at Tenby Close, Brookhouse, Blackburn, had told her a week earlier that she had put on weight and seemed bloated, but she had denied that she might be pregnant.

Greenwood, who worked in a local factory, visited Blackburn Royal Infirmary complaining of stomach pains two days before the birth and was given painkillers.

But five days before Christmas she gave birth at home to a six lb 12 oz daughter. Dizzy and shocked, she wrapped her baby girl in a duvet cover, put her in a carrier bag, walked to nearby Neath Close and left her.

Greenwood returned home but collapsed, bleeding heavily, and called for her mother, who phoned an ambulance.

She was taken to Queen's Park Hospital where doctors realised she had given birth. Greenwood at first denied it but then admitted she had abandoned the baby in a yard. At 11am, police searching the area found the baby, who was never named and known simply as Baby Greenwood.

She was taken to hospital but she was icy cold, showed no signs of life and was pronounced dead.

Mrs Lloyd said Greenwood had told police: "It was like a horrible dream. I did not know what was going on."

A post-mortem examination showed the baby had begun to breathe after birth but two doctors' reports disagreed as to whether she would have lived long.

Judge Peter Openshaw QC said Greenwood was of low average intelligence and utterly naive but he was not impressed by her attempts to blame others.

It is a case for pity, understanding and help, not a case for punishment," he said.

Detective Inspector Phil McEntee said: "It's clear that she was confused, distressed and disturbed at the time. No-one knows what was going through her mind."

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