Baby snatch woman given probation

Karli re-united with her father after being abducted

Mother-of-three Denise Giddings has been sentenced to three years probation for snatching new-born baby Karli Hawthorne.

Basildon Crown Court heard that Giddings, 33, of Langdon Hills, Essex, had taken the three-hour-old infant from beside her sleeping mother's bed at Basildon General Hospital.

The video still that gave police the lead needed to catch Giddings

Judge Philip Clegg told Giddings, who had previously admitted child abduction , that people who committed such offences could expect to go to jail.

But he accepted defence evidence that Giddings was suffering from serious mental delusions at the time.

Judge Clegg said: "The court is not in the business of punishing the mentally ill." It was made a condition of her probation that Giddings continue to seek psychiatric help.

The new-born baby was snatched from hospital on December 5 last year, before she had been given her first feed.

She was recovered safe and well after a tip-off from a member of the public led police to a house in Basildon.

She was returned to Basildon General Hospital and given a check-up before being re-united with her parents, Tanya and Karl. The baby has suffered no side-effects and had been fed.

There was a huge public response to a police appeal for information. Within five hours they had received more than 300 phone calls after issuing a photofit and video image of Giddings.

After the trial, Karli's parents, Karl and Tania said that they had not wished for Giddings to go to prison.

"We didn't want her to go to jail, she needs help ... I didn't think she would go to jail, that's the British system. I have got no feelings for her at all." said Mr Hawthorne.