Mother held for infanticide

A mother who is believed to have drowned her baby daughter before dumping the body over a garden fence while suffering from depression has been made the subject of a hospital order.

Amy Black had pleaded guilty to infanticide at Nottingham Crown Court in March. The 40-year-old, who was born in the US, was sentenced by British high court judge Justice Kathryn Thirlwall yesterday.

Detaining her in a secure hospital for an indefinite period, Justice Thirlwall said: “You are suffering from a mental illness that makes it necessary that you be detained for treatment.”

The court heard from three psychiatrists who agreed that Black was continuing to suffer from a mental illness which required further treatment.

Black’s seven-month-old daughter Zoe was found dead in undergrowth behind her home in Bestwood, Nottingham, on September 1 last year.

CCTV shown to the court at an earlier hearing showed Black putting a chair near a fence in her garden before dropping her baby over it at around 9.30am.