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A mother has been found guilty of the murder<\/a> of her toddler son<\/a> after feeding him a fatal cocktail of prescription medications before he could be taken into care.<\/p>\n Emma Barnett, of Debden, Essex, hid in her loft after a family court hearing on November 8 2024 which had determined that her 14-month-old son Oakley should be removed from the household.<\/p>\n Summing up to jurors at Cambridge Crown Court, Judge Mr Justice Derek Sweeting said the 36-year-old had parked her car at Epping Forest then walked back home.<\/p>\n Essex Police said Barnett and Oakley were initially reported as missing, with suggestions Barnett had taken her son to Epping Forest, but they later forced entry to her home and discovered them in the loft.<\/p>\n The judge said Barnett had later said in interview that she \u201cwanted the police to think I was in the forest so I could stay indoors with Oakley\u201d.<\/p>\n The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that evidence presented at court showed Barnett had prepared a bottle containing a mixture of milk and medication, which she gave to Oakley, causing his death.<\/p>\n The CPS said Barnett was found guilty of murder following her trial. Officers had spoken to Barnett by phone and through the loft hatch.<\/p>\n She initially told them that Oakley was sleeping, before admitting \u201cI have killed him\u201d, the CPS said.<\/p>\n Summing up evidence in the case to jurors earlier this week, the judge said Barnett \u201chid in the loft with Oakley\u201d and \u201clater when police attended she initially refused to allow police to see Oakley\u201d.<\/p>\n He said that social workers had been trying to locate Barnett and safeguard Oakley on November 8 2024 and \u201cthe intention was to remove Oakley as that was the result of the court hearing\u201d.<\/p>\n He said Barnett \u201ctried to hang herself with police present and had taken an overdose of paracetamol\u201d.<\/p>\n The judge said Oakley was taken to hospital and died on New Year\u2019s Eve 2024.<\/p>\n He said the prosecution case was that Barnett \u201cintentionally administered to him (Oakley) medication prescribed to her intending to kill him and this was the planned outcome\u201d.<\/p>\n Judge Sweeting said that the defendant\u2019s case was that Oakley\u2019s death was accidental.<\/p>\n Summing up the defendant\u2019s case to jurors, the judge continued that her case was that \u201cshe didn\u2019t intentionally administer medication or intend serious harm or to kill him\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHer intention was to take her own life but only at the point Oakley would be removed from her by police,\u201d the judge said, summing up Barnett\u2019s defence case.<\/p>\n Barnett said that hiding in the loft \u201cwas to extend the time she had left with Oakley\u201d, the judge said.<\/p>\n He said investigators found two baby bottles in the loft with liquids testing positive for the antihistamine promethazine, which can induce sedation, and the antidepressant mirtazapine.<\/p>\n The judge said an expert\u2019s evidence was that \u201ctaken together their effects may be greater than either alone\u201d and they could cause \u201crespiratory compromise\u201d.<\/p>\n Nicola Pope, senior Crown prosecutor, said: \u201cEmma Barnett deliberately gave her baby son a dangerous mixture containing medication which proved fatal.<\/p>\n \u201cOur prosecution case relied on a detailed and careful analysis of the evidence from the police investigation, including expert medical evidence, to establish how Oakley came to die.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that today\u2019s outcome provides some measure of peace to Oakley\u2019s family and loved ones during this deeply upsetting time.\u201d<\/p>\n Detective Inspector James Holmes of Essex Police said: \u201cThis was an extremely upsetting and difficult investigation for everybody involved.<\/p>\n \u201cOur thoughts remain with Oakley and everyone who loved him.\u201d<\/p>\n Barnett is due to be sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court on June 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-608997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Barnett](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/587097a1340e18c1991217b6ce83b332Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzQxNzkyMzg2-2.79358539.jpg\")
Barnett was found guilty at Cambridge Crown Court (PA) (PA Wire)<\/p>\n