Mother murdered newborn baby with cotton wool balls

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A teenage mother has been found guilty of murdering her newborn son.

Paris Mayo, 19, cried in the dock after jurors at Worcester Crown Court took eight hours and 38 minutes of deliberation to find her guilty of her son Stanley Mayo’s murder.

The court had previously heard Mayo was 15 when she gave birth to Stanley alone and unaided in a living room at her parents’ home in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, on March 23 2019.

She assaulted Stanley and stuffed cotton wool balls down his throat before putting his body in a bin bag and leaving it on the front doorstep before going to bed.

Mayo’s mother found the child the next morning when she looked inside the bloodstained bag and immediately called 999, the court was told.

The teenager had earlier denied causing Stanley’s complex skull fractures, thought to have been caused by her foot on his head, and claimed her son was already dead when he was born.

Mayo appeared in court on Friday wearing a black t-shirt, a black and white patterned skirt and white Converse trainers.

The jury of five men and seven women returned a majority guilty verdict on Friday afternoon.

Following the verdict, judge Mr Justice Garnham remanded Mayo, of Ruardean in Gloucestershire, into custody to be sentenced on Monday June 26.