'Abandoned baby' mum says she can't wait to get him back

A woman accused of abandoning her baby near a Portuguese airport says she can't wait to get her child back.

Katherine Penny faces the possibility of extradition proceedings and up to eight years in jail for allegedly abandoning her three-month-old son Charles.

The 24-year-old from Hampshire says she was suffering post-natal depression and is now determined to make a fresh start.

Miss Penny, speaking for the first time about the case in an interview with the Daily Mail, says she can understand why people think she's the worst mum in the world.

She said: "I couldn't afford a passport for Charlie and I reached breaking point and wasn't thinking straight at all. I just lost it.

"But I know none of that should ever have meant me leaving him and I want him back more than anything. I know I need help."

She claims she arranged to meet Portuguese social workers outside Faro airport before her flight home, but panicked when no-one turned up.

She said: "I vaguely remember his buggy was on a pavement outside a beautiful house. I don't remember walking away, all I can remember is crying and feeling totally numb. I think I was in some kind of trance."

Ms Penny, who faces extradition proceedings with her boyfriend, Mark Beddoes, says she now hopes to undergo counselling.