Mum hid newborn son’s body in a drain
High-flier’s secret birth
A CAREER woman hid her baby’s body in a garden drain when he died shortly after she secretly gave birth, a court heard yesterday.
Sinead Connett, 29, had concealed her pregnancy and gave birth in the bathroom of the home she shared with her unsuspecting boyfriend.
She had gone into labour on a flight home from holiday and went on to have her son. He was full-term and weighed just over 3lbs but was either stillborn or died moments later.
Connett hid his body in her car boot and three days later drove 160 miles to her parents’ home. She then put the tiny baby concealed in bin liners in a back garden drain, an act a judge said was ‘conduct so dreadful that it almost defies description’.
Connett, a university graduate working in Tesco’s HR department, carried on as normal until the mummified remains were found nearly three years later by a plumber investigating a drain blockage.
She denied all knowledge but DNA evidence revealed her to be the mother. Connett, of Hertford, then invented a ‘lattice-work of lies’, claiming to have become pregnant after being raped by a cabbie while drunk after an office party.
The truth was uncovered by police and yesterday Connett cried in the dock throughout the hearing before being jailed for 12 months after admitting concealment of a birth.
Ignoring pleas for mercy, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC told her: ‘You are the architect of this deplorable situation and you must be punished.’
Her parents Stuart and Anne Connett, of Grimsby, and her boyfriend Jonathan Layfield,
‘You must be punished’
whom she has since married, had no idea she was pregnant or had given birth. Connett had given ‘ health’ reasons for having a bloated stomach.
She kept up the pretence when starting labour on the plane back from Turkey in August 2013 with Mr Layfield.
He was the father and Connett told police she feared a baby would ruin their relationship. She was also ‘very careerminded’ and was afraid of losing her job in redundancies in her department at the time.
Prosecutor Jeremy Evans said the baby was found to have a fractured skull although this may have been caused by a shovel used to extract his body.
No cause of death could be found and the judge said it will never be known if the baby could have been saved by prompt medical attention.
The discovery in February 2016 shocked Connett’s parents, both teachers in their 60s, and they helped police to unravel the mystery.
DNA tests on a blood-stained towel later showed Connett was the mother. After she lied to police about being raped, they launched a major inquiry. Connett claimed she had not wanted to report the attack or keep the baby because of it.
Detectives doubted Connett’s story and further DNA tests showed Mr Layfield was the baby’s father. Eventually Connett confessed, saying: ‘I’ve done something terrible.’
Grimsby Crown Court heard she had her pregnancy confirmed by a GP in January 2013 but delayed going to an abortion clinic until May.
She lied about her dates and said it was ‘not the right time to have a baby’. Staff refused to carry out a termination as Connett was 28 weeks’ pregnant.
Nigel Sloane, defending, said she had lost her job and good character. The court heard that the baby has now been given a dignified burial.