Thursday, June 13, 2024
A childminder has today (13th June) been jailed for killing a baby under her care in Hapton.
Baby Harlow Collinge suffered injuries consistent with being violently shaken by defendant Karen Foster at her former home in Mill Lane.
Our colleagues at the North West Ambulance Service were called at 1.19pm on 1st March 2022 following a report that nine-month old Harlow was in cardiac arrest.
He was taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital where it was discovered he had a significant and non-accidental injury to his brain.
Due to the nature and severity of Harlow’s brain injury and having given a number of conflicting accounts of how this injury was sustained, Foster was arrested at that time on suspicion of Section 18 grievous bodily harm.
Despite the best efforts of medical professionals, Harlow sadly died on 5th March 2022 surrounded by his loved ones.
A post mortem examination revealed that Harlow’s cause of death was inflicted traumatic brain injury. Foster was further arrested on suspicion of murder.
Following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, 62-year-old Foster was charged with Harlow’s murder.
After two years, faced with the indisputable and overwhelming evidence that she was responsible for killing Harlow, Foster pleaded guilty to his manslaughter when she appeared in the dock at Preston Crown Court last week.
Foster, now of no fixed address, appeared at the same court today where Mr Justice Cotter jailed her for 12 years and seven months.
In a statement, Harlow’s parents said: “We do not know where to begin explaining what it is like losing our son in the most horrific of circumstance.
“Our boy’s life has been taken away by a horrible, fake individual, who we trusted and who promised to care for him.
“No words can describe how it has ruined our lives.
“Harlow was enjoying his little life, which he should have been able to live to the full.
“He had everything he needed a family who loved him, sisters and brothers to look up to, laugh and grow with,
“Everything was perfect.
“His love of us all was clear to see. He was a happy, smiling, boy who loved to sing with his sisters. His giggle was infectious, he made us all laugh and was so loved by everyone who met him, except for one person. He made us all love life being with him.
“The moment we got the call saying he had collapsed changed our lives forever.
“Harlow’s last few days of life were absolutely terrible.
“Watching each other experience his life ebbing away from us, was heart-breaking.
“He tried so hard to fight but, in the end, he just didn’t have the strength, she had done so much damage to him.
“The actions she has taken over the last two years make us sick.
“It is horrendous to put any grieving family through what she did.
“She still appears not to show any remorse for her actions. We question why she did not tell the truth from the start. It wouldn’t have changed the outcome for Harlow, but we would have had answers sooner.
“We could have started trying to claw back to some sort of life which now seems a long way off.
“Our lives will never be the same, we have to try and salvage what is left.
“We had trusted that woman to look after our Harlow, an innocent baby boy, but she took him away from all the family.
“That fateful day when Karen Foster shook Harlow to death will stay with us forever.”