Everything Joanne Sharkey said when police caught up with her 25 years later

Joanne Sharkey was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Baby Callum as a result of her older son's arrest

04:00, 22 Mar 2025

Joanne Sharkey's arrest caught on camera by Cheshire Police

A mum told detectives "you don't get away with everything forever" when they finally caught up with her 25 years after she killed her new born baby. Joanne Sharkey was only identified as the mother of Baby Callum, who was found dead in woodland near to Gulliver's World in Warrington [1] in 1998, via DNA findings after her other son was "arrested for an unrelated crime" decades later.

The 55-year-old, of Denham Close in Croxteth [2], then confessed to having suffocated the tiny infant when he was seemingly minutes old, wrapped his body in bin bags and driven to the vicinity of the children's theme park in order to dispose of his body. Experts retrospectively diagnosed her as suffering from severe post-natal depression following the birth of her first born 20 months earlier, a condition which "substantially impaired her ability to form rational judgement and exercise self control".

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Liverpool Crown Court [3] heard yesterday that it was only in 2023, during a "periodic review" of the cold case by Cheshire Police, that it was identified that Sharkey's older son Matthew had been added to the national DNA database following his "arrest for an unrelated offence".

This led to her and her husband Neil being arrested on July 25 that year, at which stage she told officers: "He knows nothing about it."

Jonas Hankin KC, prosecuting, described how the couple were then placed into the back of a police car, when a covert recording captured her telling Mr Sharkey: "I'm not f***ing gonna deny nothing. It is what it is, isn't it? I f***ing did it."

Sharkey was then interviewed over the course of the following two days, "giving answers about her knowledge of the pregnancy, the birth and death of the infant and her disposal of the body".

Of her state of mind at the prospect of a second child, she told detectives: "I can't do this again.

I thought I was pregnant, but not sort of acknowledging the fact. I don't even think I even thought that I was until I was about five months. It must have been when I was showing."

When asked whether she had shown any signs of being pregnant, Sharkey replied "just probably putting a little bit of weight on" and said that she "wore bigger clothes" and "kept the secret to myself".

She meanwhile stated that herself and her husband were "ships that passed in the night" due to his shift pattern, saying: "I wasn't huge.

"You put a little bit of weight on. It's the winter. You've ate a little bit too much.

You put a bigger jumper on. I kept myself to myself for that time, didn't socialise for the last few months and just kept everyone at arm's length."

Mental health support groups and helplines

PANDAS [4] is a charity that supports anyone who may be suffering with perinatal mental illness, including prenatal (antenatal) and postnatal depression, and their families. The charity has a free, bookable call service available.

You can visit their website here [5] or email [email protected]

Samaritans [6] (116 123) operates a 24-hour service available every day of the year. If you prefer to write down how you're feeling, or if you're worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at [email protected][7].

Mind [8] (0300 123 3393) is a charity providing advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. They campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding.

Sharkey labelled the birth as "quite easy, quick", having spent around two-and-a-half hours in labour.

She said: "Obviously I knew what was going on, that I was in labour. I recognised labour. I knew I was in labour.

The head was there, and then it was like a push. Infant born."

Asked where she had given birth, Sharkey said: "I'm thinking bathroom. I think I've panicked a lot, all round the house.

But I'm thinking I've made my way to the bathroom now. He just sort of came out without me doing anything."

Of the whereabouts of her partner and son at the time, she added: "They weren't in the house. I was on my own.

There was no one else in the house that day. Most definitely, I was the only one in the house."

Sharkey went on to say that she "just had to make him quiet", stating: "He's making a noise, just little snuffly sort of starting to cry noise, not massively loud, not a full blown infant cry. Just a whimpery sort of cry.

"I sort of reached down.

I must have been on the floor at this point. I've covered his nose, his mouth. It just couldn't make that noise, just to be quiet.

I knew I just had to, it had to be quiet. Then he was quiet."

Joanne Sharkey(Image: Cheshire Police)

Sharkey said under questioning that she was "concerned that someone outside would hear him were he to cry loudly" and, when asked to describe the baby's movement, responded: "I don't know, little movements. I can't really remember.

I didn't want to see. I didn't want to look."

Asked to account for bruising found to his head and neck, she stated "I can't, so no comment". Sharkey meanwhile denied intending to hurt him and, when quizzed over tissues which had been found in his mouth and throat, said: "No comment.

I don't know."

Detectives went on to ask her whether she believed her actions had caused Baby Callum's death. She replied: "I won't answer that question."

Sharkey, when asked about the disposal of the body, said that he was "wrapped up in something" and possibly "bundled up into something and then put inside a bag". She continued: "I'm thinking I left him in the bathroom to go and find something.

"I've wrapped the infant up.

I can't think how long he was in the house for. Was he a day? Was he two days?

I don't know. I must have cleaned it up at some point. I think, if it's the bathroom, it's just been mopped and cleaned.

By this time, I think I'd realised I just had to get him out of the house then."

Sharkey stated that she subsequently placed the baby's body into the car and drove "to nowhere in particular, just driving and then stopping. She commented: "I had to find somewhere to, not be with me anymore."

"I can't remember how long it was. Whether it was half an hour after he was born or the day after he was born, whether I took him straight away or whether he was in my car overnight maybe.

In the back I think, in the footwell.

"I remember it being a bright day, so it must have been afternoon possibly. It was quite sunny. That's all I remember.

I can't remember whether it was the next day, same day I'm not sure. I just drove to nowhere in particular, just on a motorway."

Asked how long the journey took, Sharkey said: "Half an hour? Forty minutes?

But I wouldn't swear to that definite. I don't know."

Sharkey recalled that she travelled to a "grassy wood on a motorway" to a location which she had not visited before, stating: "Fields. Was it fields?

Trees? Quite rural, that's all I remember.

"At some point, I've taken the bag out the car and placed it. I can't remember how I placed it.

It was just in that area. There was a pavement, or was it a pavement with a grass bank?"

Sharkey detailed that the area was "ok to park", and said: "It was countrysidey, but you could have been parking up to take your dog out for a walk or something. I remember trees and grass, but I can't say exactly where.

I remember sort of that it was a woody type area."

She then placed the bag "out of the way, hidden", adding: "I don't know. I suppose you don't want it to be found, so somewhere that's out the way and hidden from view."

Having driven home, Sharkey said she had "made sure everywhere was clean, where I've given birth". She meanwhile told detectives that, in the intervening years, she had thought about the events "a million times, but how would you say it?".

She stated: "I couldn't actually say the words.

It's not easy to live with, all that time. I thought this would happen. You don't get away with everything forever.

"It's haunting, something you think about every single day.

You try and push it out, but it creeps back in. You carry on with your life and you go to work, and you do Christmas, and you do Easter. But this is always in your head."

Sharkey described herself as being "terrified" in the months afterwards, saying in reference to media coverage of the case: "I think it was just 'that's me', you know?

That's what I've done"

She also said she was "terrified that somebody would be knocking on the door, adding: "I think that's always been... you're waiting for it. One day it's gonna happen, and then it did happen."

Sharkey went on to label her actions as "horrendous, the worst thing ever" but said of her arrest: "Do you know, it's been a bit of a relief to be fair. I feel sick to the stomach for what I've done.

It's out, it's come off my chest."

Joanne Sharkey outside Liverpool Crown Court(Image: Liverpool Echo)

Nina Grahame KC, defending, told the court of her client's comments following her arrest: "Mrs Sharkey made the fullest possible admissions she was able to make in her lengthy interviews. Those admissions in interview are, we suggest, a powerful and important feature of mitigation in this case, not easy and taking a great deal of courage.

"The question ultimately is whether immediate custody is unavoidable, or whether a suspended sentence would be the more appropriate disposal. That is the course we urge you to consider taking in this case."

Sharkey had been due to be sentenced on Friday after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility and concealing the birth of a child.

Wearing a white cardigan, having carried a small suitcase into the dock, and with her brown hair pinned up with a clip, she dabbed her eyes with a tissue throughout the hearing.

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But the sentencing ultimately had to be adjourned due to a lack of court time. Sharkey will now learn her fate next month, being released on conditional bail ahead of this date.

High Court judge Mrs Justice Eady told her: "This is a case where I need to reflect on what I have heard. I am not in a position to go on to pass sentence this afternoon.

"I appreciate the stress that will cause you and your family members.

I am sorry about that, but it is more important if I make sure that I make the right decision rather than trying to rush things on a Friday afternoon."

References

^ Warrington (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
^ Croxteth (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
^ Liverpool Crown Court (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
^ PANDAS (pandasfoundation.org.uk)
^ website here (pandasfoundation.org.uk)
^ Samaritans (www.samaritans.org)
^ [email protected] (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
^ Mind (www.mind.org.uk)