Mum Faces Life For Killing Daughter With Toy

Mum Faces Life For Killing Daughter With Toy
Share Share Comments (25)6:13pm UK, Friday August 13, 2010

Alison Chung, Sky News Online

A mother who smothered her three-year-old daughter to death with her cuddly toy is facing life in jail.


Helen Caudwell suffocated her daughter in the bedroom of her flat


Helen Mary Caudwell, 42, used a Piglet teddy bear to kill Bethany Marie Kennerley-Caudwell before slashing her own wrists in a botched suicide attempt in October last year.

Caudwell, from Cheadle Heath, Greater Manchester, had lived a double life, convincing two men they were both her daughter's father, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Caudwell was involved in a custody battle over Bethany with her second husband, Miles Kennerley, just five months after they had got married last year.

When the couple started their relationship in 2005, Caudwell already had three children by her first husband, Ian Caudwell.

She told the court she was "desperate" for another child but Mr Caudwell had undergone a vasectomy.

She then started two affairs - with Mr Kennerley and Mark Davies - with the sole intention of getting pregnant.



Bethany with Miles Kennerley

When she became pregnant in 2005, she told each of the men he was the father.

They both believed themselves to be Bethany's dad until her death, and neither knew of the other's existence.

A DNA test later revealed that Mr Davies was the real father.

Bethany was found dead in a bedroom of her mother's flat with her Piglet toy lying next to her. Her saliva and blood were both found on the toy.

Caudwell, who denied murder, first told police she may have rolled over on to her daughter and suffocated the child.

She later offered a defence of diminished responsibility, claiming she suffered an "abnormality of the mind" at the time of the killing.

But the jury returned a guilty verdict by a majority of 10 to two following a nine-day trial.

Caudwell showed no emotion as the court heard she faces a mandatory life sentence.

Poor little Bethany - what a sad end to such a short life.

Unfortunately there seems to be a spate of child-killings at present, almost always by one or other parent; seldom a week goes by without such a case being reported. It used to be that killing a child was the last taboo, but now it's almost as though the child's helplessness makes it an easy target, as young children basically have no means of defence from anyone wishing to harm them.

Marital or other relationship issues seem to be the catalyst in most of these cases, and of course the lack of any real deterrent must play a part, IMO. IN the case of Bethany's mother, what does 'she faces a mandatory life sentence' really mean? That she will spend the rest of her life in jail? No way! It means she could spend as little as 7 or 8 years in prison, as 'life' sentences of 15 years or so are often shortened for 'good behaviour'. I'm not in favour of the death penalty, but I feel that anyone who wilfully takes away someone's life should have their own freedom taken away for the rest of their own life - at least there'd be some justice in that.

The problem is that anyone can be a parent.
You have to have a license to drive a car, good qualifications and a good CV to get a job, but the most important job in the world (putting a child in this world and raise him/her) can be done by almost anyone. And then horrible things like these happen. I always say I'm against the death penalty as a principle. But I confess that crime against children make me doubt my convictions.

Personally I'm against a death penalty as a) I can't reconcile the belief that it's wrong for an individual to kill, while agreeing that the state can legally take a life, and b) because the statistics show that it doesn't act as a real deterrent, which surely would be the only reason to use it. Most murders are carried out by people known to the victim, and causing death is often a result of violence, rather than a premeditated outcome. This suggests that there should be better systems in place to stop situations before they get that far.

Why is violence between partners called 'domestic violence'? It separates out categories of violence, as if some are more acceptable than others. Whatever has happened to Madeleine McCann, is it likely that it wouldn't have happened if we still had capital punishment in Britain? She disappeared in Portugual, and their judicial laws apply, and, until the media stop promoting some kind of
killings as somehow almost reasonable, because eg the person doing the
killing had an unfaithful wife; they couldn't live without their partner
(even though the partner left because they were violent, selfish,
monsters); or they were worried that debt meant their wife and children
were going to suffer, then the death penalty is likely only to apply to those who kill strangers for material gain, as mitigating circumstances would always be a factor with most murders. Juries would probably be less willing to pass a verdict of guilty of murder if it led to a death sentence, rather than a llife sentence.

I don't think more children are being killed by strangers, or even by those known to them. I think our globalised, immediate, media information makes us much more aware of things that have always gone on. That's a good thing in some ways, but I think it should be used to bring about more awareness of how most crimes against children are done by those known to them or their family, rather than as a reason for bringing back capital punishment.

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/crime/s/1313921_jailed_for_life_mum_who_murdered_her_threeyearold_daughter_with_a_cuddly_toy

Read the comments, her friends are defending her, it reminds me of the Maddie case and the way their friends have defended them.

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If you knew Bethany and saw her on a daily basis with her so called " evil mother" you would see that she was very much loved, very much adored and very beautiful in every way. You would also have seen that the love shared between Helen and Bethany was very much mutual.
Those of you who judge only on what you read rather than what you know need look into your own glass houses and see if your lives would read perfect should your actions and past decisions be put under the spotlight.
Before you rant your hate messages below, think of the other three children, very much alive, grieving and in distress at your comments!
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