Breastfeeding mum lied that security guard took baby

A mother could be sent to jail after falsly claiming a security guard took her baby while she was breastfeeding.

Caroline Starmer, 28, posted on Facebook that the guard took her nine-month-old daughter, Paige, from her at the store in Humberstone Gate in Leicester on July 13.

The incident was then reported in the media and, in interviews, Starmer claimed that a male security guard grabbed the child from her breast.

Starmer, of Marshall St, Woodgate, Leicester, had said the incident was “horrific”.

She wrote on Facebook: “My 9.5-month-old daughter started crying, needing a feed, and the queues were pretty long, so, to save my daughter the upset, and the other customers, too, I decided to find a quiet spot out of the way of others and feed her discreetly.

“Within five minutes of doing so, I was approached by a security guard, who asked me to vacate the premises to feed my daughter.

“I stood my ground and stated my rights, that I can legally feed where I want.

"Just for the security officer to physically remove my daughter from my breast and walk down the store with her, saying if I wanted my daughter, then I was to come and get her. My confidence is shot, and my poor daughter hasn’t been herself all afternoon.”

Appearing at Leicester Crown Court on Thursday, Starmer admitted lying. She will be sentenced on December 3, for intending to pervert the course of justice.

Judge Simon Hammond told Starmer: “This is a very serious matter. The court will consider a custodial sentence.”

Primark had said of the CCTV footage: ”We can see no evidence that she was approached by anyone during this period”.