Mother Who Fears Having A Baby Would Harm Her Career Stabs Her To Death

A mother stabbed her newborn daughter to death with a pair of kitchen scissors because she feared having a child would harm her career, a court heard.

Rachel Tunstill, 26, dumped her newborn baby's lifeless body in a bin after allegedly butchering her with scissors 15 times at the flat she shared with boyfriend Ryan Kelly.

Preston Crown Court heard the couple's daughter Mia Kelly had been born after Tunstill had gone into labour on their toilet while Ryan was 'engrossed' playing a horror video game on his XBOX.

But she told her partner that she was 'having another miscarriage' and got him to hand her a pair of scissors. Tunstill, who holds a degree in psychology and a masters in forensic psychology, told Mr Kelly, 31, she didn't need medical attention during the three hour-long event.

Prosecutor Louise Blackwell told the court: 'On January 14 the defendant had been at work at Benjamin House.

'She had gone home that evening and then in the bathroom she had given birth to Mia Kelly - there Mia Kelly met her death.'

Tunstill, who holds a degree in psychology and a masters in forensic psychology, told Mr Kelly, 31, she didn't need medical attention during the three hour-long event.

Prosecutor Louise Blackwell told the court: 'On January 14 the defendant had been at work at Benjamin House.

'She had gone home that evening and then in the bathroom she had given birth to Mia Kelly - there Mia Kelly met her death.'

unstill eventually went to Burnley General Hospital on the morning of January 16 where she told staff she was nine weeks pregnant, had suffered bleeding and was concerned she had had a miscarriage.

Medics examined her and found that part of the umbilical cord was still attached to the uterus, the court had heard.

Police were called to the hospital and officers later found the body of Mia Kelly in the kitchen bin at the flat.

Tunstill's barrister has told jurors it is not disputed the baby was born alive and died as result of a number of stab wounds, but the defendant had no recollection of the precise process of how that happened.

Tunstill denies murder. The trial continues.