Mother faces jail over breastfeeding lies
A MOTHER who lied about a Primark security guard snatching her baby from her breast has been warned she faces jail.
Caroline Starmer sparked outrage among campaign groups when she claimed a store employee had ripped her daughter from her chest while she was ‘discreetly’ breastfeeding.
Hundreds leapt to her defence on social media demanding an apology from the retail giant.
But two months on, the 28-year-old mother of four has admitted that her story was fabricated.
Yesterday during a brief hearing at Leicester Crown Court she pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Judge Simon Hammond told her: ‘The court will be considering a custodial sentence.’ According to sentencing guidelines, she could spend between four and 36 months behind bars.
Starmer, f rom Leicester, f i rst revealed the supposed encounter in Primark in a post on the ‘ Free to Feed’ Facebook page on July 13.
She claimed a security guard had marched her and her nine-month-old daughter, Paige out of the store in Leicester, after saying: ‘You can’t do that here’. She later reported the incident to police.
Campaigner Emily Slough, the founder of the Free to Feed group yesterday wrote on the group’s Facebook page: ‘What possesses people to fabricate lies will always be a mystery to us. Our good nature was abused by someone we believed in good faith, and wanted to help.’ Starmer refused to comment. A Primark spokesman said: ‘Primark will work hard to ensure that all customers have a comfortable experience in our stores. This, of course, includes breastfeeding mothers.’