THE mother who admitted the manslaughter of “Baby Callum,” found in discarded bin bags in Warrington 27 years ago, has today received a suspended prison sentence.
A judge told Joanne Sharkey, who repeatedly wiped away tears during her sentencing hearing, that she accepted, “Not a day has passed when you have not dwelt on these matters appreciating the horrendous nature of your crime.”
Sharkey, of Denham Close, Liverpool, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court today, Friday 4 April 2025 where she was sentenced to two years suspended for two years for the manslaughter of ‘Baby Callum’, whose body was found in Warrington woodland near Gulliver’s World in 1998.
The 55-year-old had previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and endeavouring to conceal the birth of a child at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday 6 March 2025.
At around 10.45am on 14 March 1998, the body of a newborn baby boy was found by a local man out walking his dog with his young son in a wooded area off Camp Road, near to Gulliver’s World.
The baby’s body had been discarded inside two knotted binbags and was discovered after the dog walker became curious as to what was in the bags and poked a hole in them with a stick.
Following the shocking discovery, help was sought from nearby Gulliver’s World and by chance a paediatrician happened to be present and confirmed the body to be a deceased baby boy. The baby was pronounced dead at 11.25am.
The baby, named locally as “Baby Callum,” was estimated to have been born at full term within a few days of his discovery, but his identity, and that of his parents, was unknown. He was named Callum after the Callands district of Warrington in which his body was discovered.
Baby Callum’s grave at Warrington Cemetary
Due to findings at a post-mortem, Cheshire Constabulary launched a murder investigation.
A full DNA sample was taken from the baby, as well as from blood found on the binbags. This identified the DNA profile of the mother of the baby, however there was no match on the National DNA Database for her. A partial DNA profile for the father was obtained, but again, there was no match on the DNA Database.
As part of the investigation, DNA swabs were taken from a large number of people living locally at the time, but none provided a match. Officers also carried out extensive house-to-house enquiries with hundreds of people being interviewed, enquiries with local hospitals, midwife services, GPs and other medical services, as well as schools, to identify any women or girls who may have given birth recently.
Despite the efforts of police, a large media campaign, and anniversary media appeals in the following years, nothing led to the identification of the baby’s parents.
The case had remained on the list of ‘cold’ cases for Cheshire Constabulary and was subject to regular reviews, including refreshed searches of the DNA Database and further DNA analysis as advances in science were made.
The current investigation began in January 2022 as part of one of these reviews by Cheshire Constabulary’s Major Crime Review Team.
Through further DNA analysis, the mother of “Baby Callum”, Joanne Sharkey, and the father were identified. This occurred via the identification of a familial link between the baby and somebody who was related to him, who had been added to the National DNA Database in the years since searches were last completed. Familial DNA identifies samples which have familial similarities to the target sample, which can come from distant or close relations.
Sharkey and the baby’s father were arrested on 28 July 2023 on suspicion of murder. DNA samples were obtained which confirmed that they were the mother and father of the baby. Both were later released on bail while enquiries continued.
Following a thorough investigation, a decision was made to take no further action against the father, the case being that he was unaware of the pregnancy, the birth, or the subsequent death.
Sharkey was charged on 15 April 2024 with murder and endeavouring to conceal the birth of a child.
It was determined that Sharkey had concealed her pregnancy, given birth at her home address and caused the death of the baby in the following hours. The baby was found to have wads of tissue in his mouth and throat.
Sharkey then placed the baby’s body within binbags and drove to the site in Warrington where she left him.
She entered a guilty plea to manslaughter which was accepted by the prosecution based on psychiatric evidence.
In passing sentence Mrs Justice Eady said that at the time Sharkey gave birth to the boy she was alone and unaided in the bathroom of her home.
“It is accepted that, at the time, you were experiencing an abnormality of mental functioning – specifically, you were suffering from moderately severe, to severe, depression – and this substantially impaired your ability to form a rational judgment and exercise self-control.
“The infant was born alive at full term but died shortly afterwards; you subsequently placed the body into bin bags and into your car, driving for some 35-40 minutes from your home to a wooded area in Warrington, and leaving the bags containing the body a little way beside a public path.
“We know this was during the early afternoon of Wednesday 11 March 1998, because you were seen by a witness, and the body was then uncovered by another witness on the morning of 14 March 1998. Medical evidence suggests the baby was born a few days earlier, but we cannot be sure exactly when, nor can we know precisely how he died.
“To understand the tragic nature of these events, it is necessary to go back to the period 1997-1998, when you were 28, living with your husband, who you had been with since your teens, and your son, then a toddler under the age of three.
“You had returned to full-time work after maternity leave and seemed to be coping, but that was a façade; you were in fact suffering from post-natal depression. This was not a case of the “baby blues”, but a far more sustained period of depression, which impacted upon you physically and mentally.
“You experienced profound sleep disturbance, exhaustion, heightened anxiety, and chronic feelings of inadequacy; your relationship with your husband deteriorated, and you suffered a loss of appetite and significant weight loss.
“Had your depression been diagnosed at the time, I have no doubt your symptoms would have been viewed as requiring urgent clinical attention. Unfortunately, however, those symptoms also included extreme and irrational fears that you would be seen as a bad mother and your son would be taken away, and so you sought to conceal what was happening to you. “
The judge told Sharkey, that her inability to seek help was compounded by personality disorder traits and diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder.
“I am satisfied that this background, coupled with depression and the irrational fears you suffered following the birth of your first child, explains why you told no-one what you were suffering.”
She became pregnant again about a year later and could not cope with this second pregnancy despite being in a settled and supportive environment with her husband, the baby’s father.
“Your mental ill health was such that you effectively denied the fact of your pregnancy even to yourself. On the evidence available, I am satisfied that you have little recollection of this time – you have blanked it out.
“That, I am clear, is also true of the subsequent labour and your experience of giving birth. There is no suggestion that you have tried to avoid telling the truth, but your account has been characterised by problems of recollection. “
The judge continued, “You have said you did not look at the baby, and can only recall what might have been a groaning or gurgling noise, not the cry of a newborn child.
“Although you told the police that you think you put your hand down to the baby’s nose and mouth, you were later unsure whether that was an accurate recollection or whether you were trying to make sense of things you were being told.
“Your sense of confusion is apparent in your comment that “even afterwards … I felt it wasn’t me … at times I thought it wasn’t real … or was it?”
“Although we know that you must have put tissue into the baby’s mouth and throat, you have no recollection of this. Equally, although you can remember the basic action of wrapping the baby, you cannot recall fetching the bags in which his body was found, still less of your perceptions or feelings at the time.
“You have a memory of placing the bag carrying the baby in the footwell of the car but not of any awareness of when this was, or whether the baby was then alive or dead. You had no memory of where you went – “I could have been in Scotland” – or of events until you returned home and later heard about the finding of the baby’s body on the news.
“It has never been possible for the medical cause of death to be ascertained. The autopsy findings did not establish that the infant died of asphyxia caused by another party but did not exclude that possibility.
“Although I cannot be sure of the precise means by which this child died, the bruising and injuries apparent post-mortem do enable me to be sure that you caused injuries to your baby after he had been born alive, most likely depriving him of oxygen by covering his nose and mouth and/or placing tissues into his mouth and throat.
“It is, however, agreed by the experts that your mental ill health substantially impaired your ability to form a rational judgment and exercise self-control.”
“Nothing I can do or say can turn the clock back to avoid the tragedy of this case, still less restore the life of your child. I must, however, seek to impose a sentence that is just and proportionate in all the circumstances.
“This is a difficult case, where I accept that your offending is very largely explained by the mental disorder you suffered following the birth of your first child and by the further trauma of the second birth. “
The judge pointed out that Sharkey had lived with the knowledge of what she had done for over 25 years. “Of course, it could be said that it was open to you to confess your crime earlier, but I note what you told the police: you had thought about this “a million times” but “couldn’t actually say the words”.
“Certainly, I am clear that this is not a case where you had a sense of having gotten away with it; rather, regardless of how you presented to others, you lived isolated with this terrible and tragic knowledge for a quarter of a century. “
As well as the suspended prison sentence the judge also ordered Sharkey to carry out 30 days rehabilitation activities and imposed a 12 month mental health treatment requirement.
The defendant’s husband and son wept in the public gallery and were comforted by another man and woman when the sentence was announced.
Following the sentencing, Detective Inspector Hannah Friend, said: “The case of Baby Callum has stayed with the local community for 27 years; he has never been forgotten, and his memory has lived on in the area ever since.
“But our efforts to locate who cut his innocent life short have never wavered over the years, and the case was subject to regular reviews and refreshed searches of the National DNA Database.
“It was thanks to this that a familial DNA match was identified, and following a thorough investigation, Sharkey was identified, arrested and later charged.
“I would again like to thank the officers and staff involved throughout this investigation, whether this was back in 1998, or more recently, whose dedication meant someone was brought before the courts to be held accountable for a baby’s untimely death.
“While the sentencing hearing today marks the end of these proceedings, we will continue to remember Callum, as will all those who have been affected by this tragic case.”
