Mother who hid birth avoids jail as court hears of ‘sustained violence’

More than 10 years after the birth, Angela Owen had new life as a mother-of-two in Glastonbury, Somerset, when her face was broadcast on the BBC’s Crimewatch last year.

After she handed herself in, tests confirmed that the child was Owen’s and her then partner’s but it was not possible to ascertain whether the baby was born alive or not.

Owen told police she had given birth to a stillborn baby at an apartment at Howroyd Hall after she had been assaulted by her partner, Bradford Crown Court heard.

She left the apartment a few months later and went on to be involved in a catalogue of deception offences before splitting up with that partner and moving to Somerset.

Owen, now 47, pleaded guilty last summer to offences of concealing the birth of a child and preventing the lawful burial of a corpse as well as charges relating to the use of false identities to obtain credit facilities, a £16,000 Lotus Elise car, a liquor licence to run a pub in Oldham and documents such as a driver’s licence and a passport.

Owen’s barrister Kirstie Watson said: “She maintains ... that she was assaulted by [her partner] quite viciously on the night before she went into labour and gave birth to a stillborn child.”

Miss Watson said Owen had tried to resuscitate the baby.

Judge Robert Bartfield said there was overwhelming evidence that Owen had been subjected to serious and sustained domestic violence at that time.

He sentenced Owen to a 12-month community order with a year’s supervision. She must also pay £400 costs.