Mother jailed for four years for drowning toddler daughter in village pond

A 42-year-old teaching assistant has been jailed for four years for the manslaughter of her two-year-old daughter whom she drowned in a village pond.

Alice Mackey previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility of Annabel in a pond just 300 metres from the family home in Kingsley, Bordon, Hampshire, on September 10 2023.

The youngster was taken to hospital in a serious condition but died the following afternoon when the life support machine was switched off.

Adam Vaitilingam KC, prosecuting, said: “The defendant had taken Annabel from their house to a nearby pond and held her under the water until she stopped struggling and Annabel died as a result.”

He added that Mackey then phoned 999 and “lied” to officers and doctors saying someone must have taken Annabel from their house before saying she had found her in the pond.

Sentencing Mackey at Winchester Crown Court, the judge, Mr Justice Saini, said that she was under the “delusional” belief that “the best way to protect her (Annabel) from a bad mother was to kill her, you falsely believed she was not flourishing under your care and, in fact, was suffering under your care”.

He said: “You considered in your deluded state that this was some form of mercy for Annabel.”

The defendant had entered a not guilty plea to a charge of murder which the court heard was acceptable to the prosecution.

Reports by two psychiatrists showed that she was suffering from a condition that meant she was “substantially impaired so unable to make a rational judgement” at the time of the incident.

The court heard that Mackey had suffered postpartum (post natal) depression and anxiety following the birth of Annabel and had been prescribed anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medication.

Mr Vaitilingam said: “She had a delusional belief she was sub-standard and her daughter was much better off without her.”

He added that in May 2022, Mackey was sectioned to a mental health hospital for a month before she was discharged into community care.

Mr Vaitilingam said that Mackey had stopped taking the anti-depressant medication in January 2023 and her mental had deteriorated in the weeks before the fatal incident.

But he said that she had not told anyone and had even attended social events such as going to Goodwood Races on the day before she drowned Annabel.

Reading his victim impact statement to the court, Annabel’s father, Peter Mackey, who works in IT sales, said: “Her loss has had a devastating effect on every part of my life.

“I am deeply traumatised of the thought of how my daughter was killed, I am tormented by how frightened she must have been, at the pain she endured and the distress she suffered.

“I feel constant guilt that I was not at home to protect her on the day she died.”

Mr Mackey added: “Annabel was my little friend, we had a very special bond, she was only two and a half years old but she so much empathy, she was so caring, happy and positive, Annabel filled my life with love and joy.”

Mr Vaitilingam told the court: “The killing was premeditated in that Mrs Mackey took Annabel to the pond with the intention of killing her.

“She repeatedly lied and sought to cover up what she had done, she plainly recognised what she had done was wrong and tried to lie her way out of responsibility.

“The killing was, of course, as any case of a parent with a young child, an abuse of trust when Peter Mackey was out for the day and she was alone with Annabel.”

Patrick Gibbs KC, defending, said: “The first and most important thing to say is how unendingly sorry Mrs Mackey is for what she has done.

“She is sorry for taking Annabel’s life, she is sorry for all the pain she has caused to anyone who knew and loved Annabel, she regrets every moment of what happened and she wishes above anything in the world that Annabel was still alive.”

Wearing glasses and a white blouse and a dark blue jacket, Mackey, who worked at a school for children aged four and five where Annabel also attended a nursery, sat looking downwards as she was sentenced.

Mr Gibbs said that Mackey, who previously had a senior teaching role when the family lived in London, suffered numerous miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies during a five-year period before she became pregnant with Annabel.