A WOMAN pleaded guilty to killing her new-born baby when she appeared at Preston Crown Court.

Marysia Greenwood, 24, of Tenby Close, Brookhouse, Blackburn, admitted to infanticide during the brief court hearing.

Greenwood was charged after her baby daughter was found in a carrier bag in the back garden of a house just five days before Christmas.

The infant was found in freezing conditions and despite desperate attempts to revive her was certified dead at Queen's Park Hospital.

The baby's mother will be sentenced on Friday, December 17, after the judge agreed to adjourn the case so pre-sentence reports can be carried out. Greenwood was granted bail by the judge.

The baby girl, who was never named and known simply as Baby Greenwood, was found yards from her mother's home in Neath Close.

The alarm was raised after Marysia Greenwood arrived at hospital in a distressed and confused state.

Staff soon realised the woman had recently given birth at home and alerted the police who launched a major search for the baby.

Greenwood was treated at Queen's Park Hospital in the wake of the death and received psychiatric counselling.

The police's specialist family protection unit were called in to investigate and the decision to prosecute was taken several months after the child's death. Neighbour Catherine Anderson told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph on the day of the tragedy how she saw a carrier bag propped up against her garden fence as she looked out of her kitchen window at 9am in the morning.

The 61-year-old thought that the Next bag contained rubbish and decided to leave it. But she was horrified when police knocked on her door three hours later and told her that a new-born baby girl had been found inside.

Mrs Anderson, who has six children, said after the discovery: "When I saw the carrier bag I thought that somebody had just dumped it in my garden and that it was full of rubbish. I remember thinking that I would put it in my bin later in the day.

"A few hours later the police told me what they had found. I couldn't believe it.

"I keep looking out of the window and imagining the tiny baby inside the bag. I keep wondering whether it would have been alive when I first saw it."

Detective Inspector Phil McEntee of the family protection unit was called in to investigate the death. He said: "Whichever way you look at this case it was a terrible tragedy for everyone involved.

"My job often involves investigating cases of terrible child cruelty and this is at the other end of the spectrum.

"This woman was in a deeply confused and distressed condition and it is quite possible she was unaware she was even pregnant.

"The pregnancy obviously had a deep affect on her mentally and we had to handle the case with a great deal of delicacy."

Mr McEntee added: "You also have to look at it from the perspective of the police officers involved.

"A major search was launched and the officers involved knew they were looking for a child.

"When the two officers found the baby inside the carrier bag they raced to the hospital only to discover there was no chance of reviving the child. This must have had an enormous impact on all the officers involved who were deeply upset by the whole affair."

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