Foster mother is cleared of killing baby whom she yearned to adopt

A PARAMEDIC has been cleared of killing a baby girl she desperately wanted to adopt.

Sarah Higgins, 42, denied the manslaughter of baby Skyla Giller, who she and her boyfriend Martin Dobson were fostering while in the adoption process. Miss Higgins said she and Mr Dobson were happy at finally having a baby after eight unsuccessful rounds of IVF and always claimed that Skyla wriggled from her arms.

She sobbed with relief in the dock as the jury foreman announced the verdict halfway through the second day of deliberations. After the case she said she could finally begin to grieve for the baby she considered her daughter, and which she and her boyfriend had named Hannah.

Leeds Crown Court had heard that she became momentarily frustrated while attempting to feed the “grizzly” tot and did something to her that caused her death in a flash of temper.

A doctor told the court that colleagues who assessed 10-month-old Skyla considered it likely her injuries were “catastrophic or repetitive”.

The infant died at Leeds General Infirmary two days after Miss Higgins dialled 999 and told the operator the baby slipped and fell to the carpeted floor while being fed, landing on her bottom. The incident happened at their then home in Skelmanthorpe, near Huddersfield, West Yorks.

Miss Higgins and Mr Dobson are both Yorkshire Ambulance Service paramedics.

During an interview with police on April 6 2018, Miss Higgins denied intentionally hurting Skyla and said the baby had not suffered any head injuries in the fall.

She told police: “I have never, ever hurt her. It never made any sense to me how and what happened.

“We have been waiting for an answer wondering how this could happen. I can’t explain it. It’s not like we were thinking of an explanation for all of this. I’ve been open from the start.

“When we got her it was the happiest we’ve ever been.”

In a statement after the trial, Miss Higgins said: “On the 26th of August 2017 I lost my beautiful little girl in what has now been recognised to have been a truly tragic accident.

“I am grateful to my friends and fam- ily who have believed in me and have supported me throughout this awful time. The people who know me knew all along that I was never capable of that which was being alleged.

“I would like to thank the independent medical experts who supported my case.

“I should be grateful for the respect of my privacy, as I start the grieving process which has been denied to me.”