Paris Mayo: Court hears 999 call after baby found in bin bag

Paris Mayo arrived at Worcester Crown Court on Monday to hear her brother George give evidence

A murder trial has heard a 999 call made by the mother of a teenager after her newborn's body was found in a bag.

Paris Mayo, 19, allegedly killed her son Stanley hours after she gave birth by forcing cotton wool down his throat.

Her 20-year-old brother George told Worcester Crown Court how she had asked him to take out the bin bag holding Stanley's remains in March 2019.

Ms Mayo, who was 15 at the time and now lives in Ruardean, Gloucestershire, denies murder.

Warning - this article contains distressing content.

The trial has heard Ms Mayo concealed her pregnancy from her family and gave birth to Stanley at their home in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, on 23 March, while her parents were upstairs.

Jurors were played a 999 call made the following morning after the baby's body was discovered. In the call Ms Mayo's mother was heard sobbing uncontrollably.

She was heard repeatedly asking her daughter: "Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me?"

Asked by the call handler if the baby was beyond help, she replied: "Yes, yes," before breaking down in tears.

"She thought he had died so she hid it," the mother said to the call handler.

"He's just cold. He's cold. He's cold... I've wrapped him up."

'Something wasn't right'

Giving evidence, Mr Mayo, who was 16 at the time of the baby's death, said he had been unaware his sister was pregnant, and recalled how she had been "complaining of pain" the day before the discovery.

"To me, 16 years old, it was a lady thing," he said. "I didn't want nothing to do with it."

He said she had a bath - her second of the day - at about 21:00 GMT while he went out to run an errand.

He came home about 90 minutes later, while his parents were upstairs for his father, Patrick Mayo's, dialysis treatment.

His sister told him she "had bled heavily, and not to come in" to a sitting room.

Despite that, Mr Mayo told the court he saw blood, adding that his sister had told him she would clean it up herself.

"I had a feeling something wasn't right," the 20-year-old said, adding: "I didn't sleep very well."

Prosecutors allege Ms Mayo put her foot on her baby's head before stuffing cotton wool down his throat

In the morning, he received a text message from his sister reading: "When you go outside, can you put the black bag in the bin, as it's just full of sick from last night, pls?"

However, when he picked it up he noticed it was "unusually heavy" and there was blood underneath, the court heard.

Ms Mayo "just went hysterical" when the bag was opened, revealing Stanley's remains, he said.

Prosecutors allege the teenager did not want the baby and murdered him, possibly by stepping on his head, and stuffing cotton wool in his mouth.

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The defendant's barrister Bernard Richmond KC asked Mr Mayo about the siblings' relationship with their father, who died 10 days after the birth.

Mr Mayo agreed their father could be "difficult" and "cruel with words" and the pair would tread on eggshells around him as his health deteriorated, which had an impact on their mental wellbeing.

When Stanley's body was discovered in the bin bag, Mr Mayo said he did not know what to do. "I sat there with dad and just sat in silence," he told jurors.

He said it was his father's contribution that the baby was named Stanley but he otherwise "didn't say anything, just nodded his head".

The trial, expected to last six weeks, continues.