September 2001

Mother jailed for toilet killing

A mother who killed her 16-month-old daughter by putting her head down the toilet has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Caroline Benson, 25, of Newtown, Birmingham, tried to cover up her daughter Skye’s death by hiding the body in a sofa and then claiming the baby had fallen into it.

Sentencing her at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Richard Wakerley said: “It is a shocking tale.

“You thrust a baby’s head into the toilet bowl and you flushed the toilet and she either drowned or died of shock.”

Benson admitted manslaughter after originally being charged with murder.

The court heard how she lost her temper with Skye on 7 May, 2000.

After flushing the girl’s head down the toilet, she waited until the morning before calling an ambulance.

The prosecution said she went through the “charade” of calling the emergency services, acting hysterically and screaming as the body was brought out.

But police began to suspect foul play when the post-mortem examination showed Skye’s lungs were congested with more fluid than expected.

Michael Hubbard, defending, said Benson was a victim of social services’ failings.

He told the court that Benson had been a drug and alcohol addict since 14, had suffered sexual abuse and violent relationships with 19 men.

Protection register

Mr Hubbard said four social workers had been appointed to deal with Benson and all of them made recommendations that Skye be put on the child protection register because of fears she would be harmed.

Benson, who had no previous convictions but a history of personality disorders, had repeatedly told social services she could not cope with Skye, the court was told.

Mr Hubbard said: “Her cries for help went largely unheeded.

“It was almost inevitable that left largely to her own devices with this appalling history of personality disorder that harm was going to come to this child.”

Benson also admitted one charge of neglect to another child, who cannot be named, and was sentenced two years imprisonment to run concurrent with the manslaughter sentence.