This is the moment that a woman was arrested for killing her baby son almost three decades ago.
Bodycam footage, filmed by police officers, shows Joanne Sharkey appear unsurprised when informed she is suspected of murdering the child, known as Callum, in July 2023.
The unnamed officer reads Sharkey, 55, who is dressed in a pair of pink pyjamas whilst sat on her sofa, her rights and says he understands that she will be ‘shocked’ and ‘distressed’ but insists ‘I’m not here to judge’.
Sharkey, who shows little emotion, interrupts, and pointing to a man, thought to be her husband in another room, simply adds: ‘Can I just say, he doesn’t know anything about this.’
Police also initially arrested her husband, Neil, also 55, in connection with the tot’s death, but he was subsequently released without charge.
The couple, who have been married for 31 years and share an older son, born 20 months before Callum, are still thought to be together.
The one-minute clip was released by police after Sharkey pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her newborn, on the grounds of diminished responsibility, and to concealing his birth at Liverpool Crown Court today.
She was due to stand trial for his murder, but, following reports from expert psychiatrists, the court heard prosecutors now accepted she was suffering from postnatal depression and her ‘mental state was impaired’ when Callum was born, in March 1998.
Police believe she gave birth to the baby at home, in Liverpool, before driving 15 miles to Warrington and dumping his body, which was wrapped in two knotted bin bags, close to the Gulliver’s World theme park.
His body was discovered by a man walking with his young son and dog in a wooded area, adjacent to the theme park, at around 10.45am on March 14, 1998. The child, who weighed 8lbs and was full term, had wads of tissues stuffed into his mouth and throat.
Police immediately launched a murder investigation, named Operation Wistful, which involved extensive house to house enquiries, appeals to local hospitals, midwives, GP surgeries and schools.
Full DNA profiles were obtained from the baby’s blood and from his mother’s blood that was also found on the bin bags.
Officers took DNA swabs from a large number of local people to try to find a match, but despite this neither his mother or father were traced.
Police named the baby Callum – after the Callands area of Warrington where he was found – and locals donated money to help fund a funeral and pay for his headstone.
Around 150 mourners attended the newborn’s funeral.
The case remained unresolved until January 2022 when police launched a cold case review that revealed a partial match to Callum and a DNA profile that had been placed on the national database in the intervening years.
It linked to an unnamed relative and, using advanced ‘familial’ DNA techniques not available in the 1990s, police were able to confirm that Sharkey and her husband were Callum’s parents.
Sharkey, of Liverpool, who was tearful when delivering her guilty pleas, will be sentenced later this month.