A North East woman’s due before the courts

My husband is violent. “He will kill me”.

The solicitor said: “She was unable to tell her husband because she was fearful of breaking up the family unit“.

Yesterday she walked free from Peterlee Magistrates’ Court after admitting a charge of abandoning a child under Section 1 of the 1933 Children and Young Persons Act.

Mark O’Neil, who is the presiding Chairman of the bench said: “The reasons for suspending the sentence are your obvious remorse and the mental health issues raised in the probation report”.

Varley went round the corner from her home in Horden, Co Durham, and left him wrapped in a dressing gown on the doorstep of a nearby flat.

“She felt sure that the baby was not her husband’s and she feared [his] reaction if she told him about the affair”.

Sarah Traynor, prosecuting, said Varley, who sobbed during the hearing, had hidden her pregnancy from her husband by saying she had ovarian cysts and had faked a negative pregnancy test by dipping it in the toilet.

The mum-of-three admitted abandoning a child, confessing that she had an affair and she believed the baby was the result of that affair.

The husband was apparently working night shift and the other daughter had been out in the evening when Varley had given birth. She was prepared for the birth in the bathroom, she took scissors in to cut the umbilical cord.

After giving birth at about 11.30pm on Wednesday May 27, she disposed of the placenta in a carrier bag leaving it in a wheelie bin, before leaving the newborn baby in the doorway of a flat.

Varley came forward after a police appeal.

The baby was less than 12-hours old when he was found wrapped in blankets in the early hours of the morning on May 28, before he was taken to hospital, where staff named him Jack. “Russell went over and saw the dog scratching around and discovered the baby”.

The court heard that Varley was still “part of the family unit”.

“What we know is that this lady has clearly suffered a lot in these last several months”, she told the court.

“Not withstanding all of that, today she is before you, and you can see the way she is”.

Sneaking out of the neat modern terrace at the dead of night, she returned within minutes, later booking a “dream” trip to Disney World in Florida for her family, then going to work.

Miss Ramshaw added: “She is of previous good character”.

“The pressure she has been under has led to some mental health issues for which she is now getting care”. Although exhausted and emotional, Varley went to work as usual and was “comforted” by the sight of an ambulance at the flats, indicating the baby had been found. She later gave a full explanation to police of what had happened.

Janice said: “I’m shocked that she hasn’t gone to prison, I think she should have”.

Varley was handed a suspended sentence order for 14 weeks.

Varley was also ordered to pay costs of £320.