Abigail Palmer: Solihull mum who squeezed baby to death jailed

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-47814945

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A mother who squeezed her two-month-old daughter to death has been jailed.

Abigail Palmer, from Solihull, crushed Teri-Rae's ribcage so hard she caused 10 fractures in January 2017.

The injuries ultimately led to the baby suffocating slowly over several hours, West Midlands Police said.

Palmer, 33, who claimed she had found her daughter "blue and lifeless", was found guilty of manslaughter at Birmingham Crown Court and jailed for 13-and-a-half years.

Police said Teri-Rae's death was not initially believed to be suspicious as no signs of injury were detected.

However, a skeletal survey revealed three healing rib fractures and more detailed 3D scans showed further hairline fractures.

Medical experts said the injuries would have disrupted Teri-Rae's breathing due to the pain and she would have slowly suffocated.

Palmer inflicted the injuries between 03:00 GMT and 11:00 on 2 January after returning from a pub, according to the force.

She told officers Teri-Rae was "never out of her sight" and was not mishandled by anyone else, but offered offered no plausible explanation for the girl's injuries.

Sgt Mick Byron, from the child abuse investigation team, said after sentencing: "Significant force is required to cause rib fractures in a baby… the presence of rib fractures in a baby of this age is indicative of abusive, deliberately inflicted, injury.

"This was a truly heartbreaking case to investigate, that a little baby's life was taken by the one person who should have been protecting her."

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