A 19-year-old Lancashire woman has been spared an immediate prison sentence at Preston Crown Court after admitting to infanticide in connection with the death of her newborn baby boy.
Sinead Tippett, who was 15 years old at the time of the incident, appeared in the dock for sentence on Monday 2 November 2026 having formally entered a guilty plea to a single count of infanticide under the Infanticide Act 1938.
The court heard that on 1 February 2022, Lancashire Police were dispatched to Tippett’s home address in Morecambe after the teenager informed staff at her school that she had given birth in secret during the previous night. Despite rumours and suspicions circulating among peers, Tippett had persistently denied being pregnant to school teachers, friends, her parents, and the 14-year-old father of the child.
Following the birth, Tippett told officers that the baby boy, named Cameron, was not breathing. She wrapped the infant in towels, placed him inside a shoebox, and concealed him within a bedroom wardrobe before leaving the house to attend school as normal the next morning.
However, forensic pathologists conducted a post-mortem examination that disproved her initial claims. Medical testing established that Cameron had been born alive and had maintained a separate existence outside the womb. The post-mortem confirmed the medical cause of death was suffocation.
In a powerful Victim Personal Statement presented to the court, Nicole Davey, Cameron’s paternal grandmother, detailed the catastrophic emotional impact the loss has had on the family and her young son:
“Everything has changed. My life before Cameron and my heartbreaking life after Cameron. I have to live without Cameron today, tomorrow and for the rest of my life. It doesn’t seem real, no matter how many times I go over it in my head. If God himself came to me and told me why, I still wouldn’t be able to accept it. People keep telling me I’m being strong. I don’t feel strong, I feel broken and scared. I feel like I lose Cameron every single day. As soon as I wake up it hits me all over again, and it has for four years.
“I didn’t just lose Cameron that day – I lost a part of my 14-year-old son. My son who should have been out living like a teenager, enjoying his life, but instead was stopped in his tracks. He changed. A once outgoing, life and soul, funny, bubbly boy turned into a shell. A young boy so traumatised by what has happened at such a young age. His childhood stopped at the age of 14.”
She added: “Finally, I would like to focus on our beautiful Cameron. Cameron is someone I love with every fibre of my body, yet I don’t know who he is or who he would have become. There is nothing I can tell you about my grandson, not even the colour of his eyes. We should have been celebrating his fourth birthday, and he should have blown out his candles on his birthday cake. Instead, we’re learning to breathe in a world where he doesn’t exist.”
At Preston Crown Court, Tippett formally pleaded guilty to:
Infanticide (causing the death of a child under 12 months by a wilful act at a time when the balance of her mind was disturbed by reason of not having fully recovered from giving birth)
Under statutory child protection provisions, lifelong reporting restrictions strictly prohibit the publication, broadcast, or dissemination of any details likely to identify any living child or minor family member connected to these proceedings.
Sentencing Tippett, the judge took into account her age at the time of the offence, psychological reports, and the statutory criteria governing infanticide, imposing a three-year community order coupled with a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement.
Image – Offender Custody Photograph
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