‘My devil sister should be in jail for killing sweet, special Amelia’
FAMILY’S AGONY OVER LITTLE GIRL WHO WAS
A MUM who “sacrificed” her own daughter is “like the devil” and should be in prison, her family has warned.
Carly Ann Harris tried to drown fouryear-old Amelia before burning her to death in the garden.
She then left her charred remains wrapped in a white sheet for her family to find.
When police arrived mum-of-three Harris told them: “The angels told me to do it. Just arrest me. It’s ok.” Her two teenage sons saw their sister’s body after she was killed.
Harris, 38, was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity. She was ruled to be schizophrenic and a judge ordered that she be detained in a specialist mental facility indefinitely.
But her actions have been described as “devil-like” by her family, who want a retrial. They claim new evidence has come to light and are raising money to pay for a legal team to re-examine the case.
Harris’ sister Tiffany Wright has spoken about the horror in Tonypandy, south Wales, for the first time.
She said: “I will never forget receiving that phone call. It was about 10pm in the evening and Carly rang.
“She told me, ‘I’ve killed Amelia’. “Carly said she wishes she’d given Amelia to me. I think she knew what she was going to do.
“I pleaded with her and asked, ‘Please tell me you’ve not done anything to that baby?’.
“I was hoping she was just unwell, but then she said she’d drowned her, and burned her.
“I’ve spoken to my sister since, and every time I think about that night, my stomach flips and I feel sick.”
Tiffany’s husband Mathew Wright, 31, added: “Her daughter is lying six feet under in a cold box, while she’s being treated softly in a warm room, having takeaways each weekend and her own en-suite.
“She should be serving a life sentence in prison – every day we suffer this, and we are livid.”
Reports have suggested that Harris’ mental health issues began as a teenager when she attended drug-fuelled parties.
At her trial the court heard that she had been taking amphetamines in the period leading up to the killing last June.
Psychiatrist Dr Arden Thompson said Harris believed she had to kill Amelia to save the world, and that God would then return her daughter to her.
But Tiffany believes the insanity verdict means justice has not been served. The family has begun a campaign dubbed #JusticeForAmelia to protest against the verdict. Tiffany said: “We’re determined to get justice for Amelia – we need to get her story out there.
We think Carly should be in jail. I never thought she’d be capable of this, and she should have received a life sentence.”
Tiffany, 30, added: “We want to make people question what happened as we don’t think it was so clear-cut.
“Carly’s actions were so evil they were devil-like. It was pure evil.”
Tiffany said she received a letter from her sister last July, apologising for her actions. But Tiffany believes only a retrial will help her nephews come to terms with what happened. She said: “The boys used to be so outgoing but now they’re withdrawn. They lost everything that night and I want to be able to give them something back, to love and to spoil them.
“Amelia was just a month shy of her fifth birthday, a beautiful loving girl, filled with so much empathy. She was so full of love and care.”
Concluding the trial at Newport Crown Court in December, Judge Simon Picken told Harris: “A richly promising girl met her death at the hands of her mother and in the most horrific manner.”
Using the hashtag #JusticeforAmelia, Tiffany and Mathew have set up a petition which has already got more than 4,000 signatures.
They are also planning a protest march in their home town later this month.
You can help the family at: Gofundme. com/mdqfwp-justiceforamelia.
DAILY STAR SUNDAY SAYS – PAGE 6