Police charge 61-year-old woman with the murder of a baby in Hapton

Karen Foster (61) of no fixed address, will appear before Blackburn Magistrates’ Court this morning.

Foster is also charged with a separate S47 assault on a one-year-old girl in Hapton on March 22nd, 2019.

Police were called around 1-20pm on March 1st last year to an address in Hapton following reports a baby boy had suffered a medical episode.

Emergency services attended and the child, aged nine-and-a-half months, was taken to hospital for treatment, but died on March 5th.

In March, a 60-year-old woman from Haslingden and a 78-year-old man from Burnley were arrested on suspicion of Section 18 Assault and were subsequently arrested on suspicion of murder after further enquiries.

The 78-year-old man has now been released without charge but after consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service police yesterday charged the woman with the baby’s murder.

The baby’s family continue to be supported by specially trained officers.

Foster is not related to either of the two victims and the two children are not related to one another.