A woman has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of a baby boy whose body was discarded in binbags in Warrington 27 years ago.
Joanne Sharkey (55) Denham Close, Liverpool, pleaded guilty to causing the death of ‘Baby Callum’, named after the Callands district of Warrington in which his body was discovered, in 1998.
In the mid-morning of March 14, 1998, the body of a newborn baby boy was found by a local man out walking his dog with his young son in a wooded area off Camp Road, near to Gulliver’s World.
The baby’s body had been discarded inside two knotted binbags and the dog walker had poked the plastic with a stick as he became curious as to what was in them.
Following the shocking discovery, help was sought from nearby Gulliver’s World. By chance, a paediatrician was there and confirmed the body to be a deceased baby boy. The baby was pronounced dead later that morning.
The baby was estimated to have been born at full term within a few days of his discovery, but his identity, and that of his parents, was unknown.
Due to findings at a post-mortem, Cheshire Constabulary launched a murder investigation.
A full DNA sample was taken from the baby, as well as from blood found on the binbags. This identified the DNA profile of the mother of the baby, however there was no match on the police DNA database for her, and only a partial match for the father, but not on the system.
Despite the efforts of police, a large media campaign, house-to-house enquiries with hundreds of people being swabbed and interviewed, and anniversary media appeals in the following years, nothing led to the identification of the baby’s parents.
The case had remained on the list of ‘cold’ cases for Cheshire Constabulary and was subject to regular reviews, including refreshed searches of the national Police DNA Database and further DNA analysis as advances in science were made.
The current investigation began in January 2022 as part of one of these reviews by Cheshire Constabulary’s Major Crime Review Team.
Through further DNA analysis, the mother of the baby, Joanne Sharkey (pictured) and the father were identified.
Sharkey and the baby’s father were arrested in July 2023 on suspicion of murder. DNA samples were obtained which confirmed that they were the mother and father of the baby. Both were later released on bail while enquiries continued.
Following a thorough investigation, a decision was made to take no further action against the father, as he was unaware of the pregnancy, the birth, or the subsequent death.
Sharkey was charged in April 2024 with murder and endeavouring to conceal the birth of a child.
It was determined that Sharkey had concealed her pregnancy, given birth at her home address and caused the death of the baby in the following hours. The baby was found to have wads of tissue in his mouth and throat.
Sharkey then placed the baby’s body within binbags and drove to the site in Warrington where she left him.
The 55-year-old pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and endeavouring to conceal the birth of a child at Liverpool Crown Court on March 6, 2025.
She will be sentenced on March 21.
Detective inspector Hannah Friend, said: “The case of Baby Callum shocked the local community 27 years ago, with residents coming together to give him a proper funeral and try to help identify the person responsible for his death.
“Despite his life being cruelly cut short, he has not been forgotten, and his memory has lived on in the local area for the past few decades. Likewise, our efforts to locate who did this to him have not wavered and the case was subject to regular reviews and refreshed searches of the Police DNA Database.
“It was thanks to this that a familial DNA sample was identified, and following a thorough investigation and multiple enquiries, Sharkey was identified, arrested and later charged in relation to Baby Callum’s death.
“While this guilty plea today will bring some closure to what has been a lengthy and complex investigation, ongoing for almost 30 years, the result will not bring back Baby Callum who should have had his whole life ahead of him.
“I would like to thank the team of officers and staff across the entirety of this investigation whose dedication has meant someone has now been held accountable for an innocent baby’s death. Our thoughts remain with everyone affected by this case.”
