Mother admits she kept children's remains for years

Bernadette Quirk illegally buried one baby in a cemetery and wrapped the other three in newspaper and rags and kept them in a small plastic bin with an air freshener.

Their remains were discovered last July by Quirk’s daughter, Joanne Lee, who contacted police.

Yesterday, Quirk, of St Helens, Merseyside, admitted four counts of concealing births when she appeared at Liverpool Crown Court.

She will be sentenced on October 11 after pre-sentencing reports have been prepared.

The 55-year-old said she gave birth to the babies between 1985 and 1995 when her marriage ended and she hit the bottle.

Detective Chief Inspector Neil Bickley, or Merseyside Police, said Quirk had “a chaotic lifestyle” after the failure of her marriage in the late 1980s and “had a number of sexual encounters”.

There was no explanation yesterday about why she carried the remains about – moving home several times in the intervening years.

Two of the babies in the bin were twins and all four were girls, although Quirk said she only remembered three of them. At the end of July last year, Quirk’s daughter discovered the remains of three babies at her mother’s house in Harlow Close.

Miss Lee already knew about a baby buried in St Helens Cemetery in the late 1990s and asked a friend to contact police.

Officers searched the property and arrested Miss Lee and her mother, a former home assistant. Miss Lee was eventually released without charge.

The defendant told detectives she gave birth to the babies at her old home in Brandreth Close, St Helens, and they were all stillborn.

Forensic tests could not prove otherwise and the twice-married mother could only be charged with concealing birth.

Yesterday, Quirk’s barrister, Ian Morris, said: “The basis of plea is she concealed the births and didn’t register the births of any of the babies.

“She doesn’t challenge the prosecution summary.

“She would just like to make it clear, as supported by the medical evidence, the children were stillborn when she gave birth to them.”

Asked by the Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Henry Globe QC, for more specifics, he added: “She struggles to recall. She can’t place any years of the births.

Quirk has three grown-up children.