Blackpool mum who killed 7-week-old baby daughter while 'drunk and stressed' won't face new trial

A Blackpool mother whose murder trial was stopped was nevertheless responsible for her daughter’s death, according to a family court judge, with the mother also having called her new-born baby a vile slur on WhatsApp, court papers have revealed.

A clash of medial opinions led to the collapse of the trial of 40-year-old Laura Langley, who was accused of killing her daughter while drunk, tired, and stressed.

Now Mr Justice MacDonald at London's Royal Courts of Justice has concluded Langley attempted to "conceal the truth" to excuse herself "from any responsibility" for the death of seven-week-old Edith.

However, she will face no fresh prosecution as the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) says there is no “reasonable prospect of securing a conviction”.

Langley’s trial at Preston Crown Court was halted - with the former healthcare assistant walking free - after evidence from Professor Charles Mangham, who said Edith’s rib injuries could not have been caused by CPR, was disputed by other experts.

Prof Mangham, the main bone pathologist dealing with suspicious death cases in the UK, has since referred himself to the General Medical Council after judges raised concerns about the quality of some of his evidence.

‘Excessive squeezing or compressive forces’

Langley called 999 shortly before 4am on November 20 2020 when Edith was found unresponsive, with the infant pronounced dead at Blackpool Victoria Hospital less than an hour later.

The Judge ruled: “The rib fractures were caused as a result of the application of excessive squeezing or compressive forces applied around Edith’s chest on two separate occasions.

“Edith’s death was caused as a result of compressive chest trauma inflicted on her by the mother on November 20 2020. The mother was responsible for the death of Edith. In an attempt to conceal the truth and exculpate herself from any responsibility, the mother has not been honest with professionals…”

The family court was told Langley was under stress at the time of her daughter's death.

In one WhatsApp conversation, she called her new-born the c-word, while in another she said she was “exhausted” and had not “got any strength left”.

On the evening of November 19, Langley, then of Belgrave Road in Marton, bought a bottle of wine between 6-6.30pm, finishing it between 8.30-9pm. At about 10.15pm, a taxi driver friend dropped off another bottle, describing Langley as her “usual bubbly self” and “happy to see” him.

Edith, he said, was in a bouncy chair asleep, waking twice while he was there. Langley admitted nearly finishing the second bottle, too, while she also took Citalopram, a medication prescribed for anxiety.

Asked why she had drunk after saying a month earlier she would stay sober while Edith was so young, Langley said: “I must have been tired, exhausted and like most people who say they will never do it again, I did.”

Shortly after 11pm, Langley texted a friend asking her to come over, describing herself as a “failure” and saying she was “doing such a bad job”. The friend said Edith was asleep in a baby rocker, with Langley drinking.

“Laura was upset and crying,” she said. “She said she wanted to be a good mum but was struggling with living on her own and having a baby and adapting to being a new mum. She appeared lonely and wanted adult company. She said she was tired.”

After the friend left at about 12.30-1am, Langley told police she lay on a couch with Edith.

Her phone showed no activity from 1.15am until 3.54am, when she rang for an ambulance and said her baby was not breathing.

‘The mother was the perpetrator of the injuries’

Langley, who said she worked at Blackpool Vic's stroke unit for eight years and had done a first aid course, performed CPR with two fingers until paramedics arrived four minutes later and took over chest compressions on Edith’s lifeless body.

Further resuscitation efforts at the Vic, at Whinney Heys Road, were futile.

In her final post-mortem report in February 2022, Dr Armour said the baby’s fractured ribs were “best explained by an excessive squeezing or compressive-type force applied around Edith’s chest”, the judge said.

Langley was arrested the following month and, quizzed by police again, said she feared she could have “rolled” on to Edith while they slept on a sofa. Months later, she was asked over Facebook Messenger what had happened and replied: “I had a couple of glasses of wine and was tired so I think it was my fault xx.”

But Mr Justice MacDonald ruled: “On the totality of evidence before the court, I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the majority of the acute rib fractures sustained to Edith were caused by two episodes of the forceful compression of her chest.

“I am further satisfied that the mother was the perpetrator of the injuries caused by Edith.”

The Judge ruled: "I am satisfied that it is more likely than not that at some point between November 16 and 18 November 2020, under very considerable stress to care for (Edith) on her own whilst entertaining caustic doubts about her ability as a mother, the mother lost her temper with Edith and squeezed her chest, possibly in an effort to stop her crying, resulting in fractures to Edith’s … ribs.

“I am satisfied that at some point after being awoken … after less than three hours of sleep (having regard to the time the mother’s phone screen ceased activity on November 20 2020) and prior to making the 999 calls, the mother in a state of heightened stress, exhaustion and inebriation, again lost control with Edith and squeezed her chest with sufficient force to cause the majority of the remaining fractures identified by Professor Mangham.

“I am satisfied that the cause of Edith's death was the injuries she sustained as the result of the second episode of compressive chest trauma inflicted on her by her mother.”

In a 237-page judgement, he said Langley, a single mother and binge drinker, had downed almost two bottles of wine on the night of Edith’s death.