The mother of a newborn baby whose body was left in woodland told her husband ‘it is what it is isn’t it. I f****** did it’ as she was in the back of a police car after the pair’s arrest, a court heard.
A near three-decade quest to identify the baby was finally solved after the infant’s DNA matched with his older brother.
The tot was named Callum by police investigating his death in 1998, but officers at the time failed to identify his parents.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the connection was not made until 2023, thanks to a cold case review.
Callum’s mother Joanne Sharkey, a 28-year-old council worker at the time of baby Callum’s death, appeared in court today where she was due to be sentenced for manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to post-natal depression.
She had admitted the charge, and concealment of a body, at a hearing earlier this month.
Revealing details of how the DNA connection was made, prosecutor Jonas Hankin, KC, said: ‘It was not until 2023, during a periodic review of the national database that the DNA profile of Matthew Sharkey, Joanne Sharkey’s first child, whose DNA had by that time been uploaded to the national DNA database because he had been arrested for an unrelated offence. His profile was found to be a close match to that of the infant.’
Baby Callum’s body was found by a dog walker in Warrington, Cheshire, on March 14, 1998.
Joanne Sharkey had admitted the charge, and concealment of a body, at a hearing earlier this month
Pictured the casket of Baby Callum at St Elphin’s church alongside a white teddy in 1998
Ms Sharkey admitted killing her newborn son whose body was discovered in woodland almost 27 years ago
The court heard that when Sharkey was suffering from post-natal depression after the birth of her first son in 1996 and ‘fearful of becoming a mother to another child’ – leading to an ‘impaired ability to form rational judgment’.
She kept her pregnancy a secret and, when the baby was born in the bathroom of her house in Croxteth, Liverpool, she heard him starting to make a noise and covered his nose and mouth ‘to make him quiet’.
The prosecutor said that after Callum was found, police made checks with hospitals, general practice surgeries, midwives and other medical facilities, conducted house-to-house visits and made enquiries at shops, pubs and three local schools.
He told the court: ‘Some young women were named by their own families as potential candidates for the mother of the baby. They were arrested but eliminated after a DNA comparison.’
After the 2023 breakthrough, Mr Hankin said DNA samples were taken from Joanne and Neil Sharkey, who were identified as the biological parents, and Sharkey was arrested for murder in July 2023, telling officers her husband ‘knows nothing about it’.
Mr Hankin said: ‘While Mr and Mrs Sharkey were in the back of a police car… (Mrs Sharkey) was heard to say ‘I’m not gonna f****** deny nothing, it is what it is isn’t it. I f****** did it’.’
Prior to sentencing, the court heard details of Sharkey’s police interviews, where she thought ‘I can’t do this again’ – referring to giving birth.
The court heard said kept her pregnancy a secret by wearing bigger clothes and keeping everyone ‘at arm’s length’.
Baby Callum’s funeral procession at St Elphin’s parish inn Warrington in 1998
Pictured: The approach road to Gullivers World Theme Park nearby where baby Callum who weighed just under 8lbs was found
Ms Sharkey (pictured) appeared unsurprised when she was taken into custody my Cheshire Police in 2023
Sharkey told officers the labour, which she thought had happened in the bathroom, was ‘easy and quick’ and that she was the only person at home.
Mr Hankin told the court: ‘She said this. ‘The infant was born. I just had to make him quiet. He’s making a noise, just a little snuffly, starting-to-cry noise. I’ve covered his nose, his mouth’.’
Sharkey told officers she realised she ‘just had to get him out of the house’ so she ‘put the bag in the car and drove to nowhere in particular’.
Mr Hankin said Sharkey told how she believed she would be caught eventually, telling officers: ‘You don’t get away with anything forever.’
Two doctors gave the baby’s medical cause of death as ‘unascertained’ and could not determine whether he had been alive when the tissue was put in his mouth.
Despite having admitted killing their child, Sharkey’s husband of 31 years Neil, now 55, told the court ‘I’m supporting Joanne and always will…I’ve loved her since the first time I saw her’, adding the family had ‘been ‘fractured to its very core’ following her arrest’.
He added: ‘I blame myself for what happened. I was not the easiest person to live with. It was difficult.
‘I know she is remorseful. I hope Joanne can receive the help she requires to address her mental health and as a family we will be here to support her.’
After hearing nearly four hours of submissions – including a plea from Sharkey’s defence not to jail her as she had already suffered ’26 years of guilt’, Mrs Justice Eady adjourned sentencing for two weeks until early April.
The judge said: ‘This is a case where I need to reflect and think about very carefully what is the appropriate course. While I appreciate the stress involved in putting sentence off to another date, I’m afraid that is where i think we are.’
Sharkey was released on bail.
