'We carry the loss daily': Lancashire family pay tribute to newborn baby placed in shoebox after secret birth
The family of a newborn baby boy who died after being secretly born in a Morecambe bedroom have paid an emotional tribute to him after the teenager responsible was sentenced at court.
Sinead Tippett, now 19 and of Preston, admitted causing the death of her son Cameron after giving birth alone at her home on Middleton Road in January 2022.
She was sentenced at Preston Crown Court on Monday to a three-year community order and a rehabilitation requirement.
Police were called on February 1, 2022, after Tippett - who was 15 at the time - told her school she had given birth the previous night.
She had denied being pregnant despite suspicions raised by staff, friends and family.
Tippett told officers the baby was not breathing after the birth and said she wrapped him in towels and placed him in a shoebox in her wardrobe before going to school the next morning.
A post-mortem examination later found Cameron had been born alive and had maintained a separate existence from his mother. His cause of death was given as suffocation.
In statements released after the hearing, Cameron’s paternal grandmother Nicole Davey and his father described the lasting devastation his death has had on their family.
Ms Davey said her life had been split into “before Cameron and after Cameron”, adding that the grief remains constant nearly four years on.
“I have to live without Cameron today, tomorrow and for the rest of my life,” she said.
“We should have been celebrating his fourth birthday … Instead, we’re learning to breathe in a world where he doesn’t exist.
“There is nothing I can tell you about my grandson, not even the colour of his eyes. I would love to tell you what his favourite toy is, his favourite story or book, what his voice sounds like or how he sounds when he cries or laughs.”
She also spoke of the impact on Cameron’s teenage father, who she said was traumatised by what happened at the age of 14.
“A once outgoing, life and soul, funny, bubbly boy turned into a shell,” she said. “His childhood stopped at the age of 14.”
Cameron’s father described ongoing mental health struggles and said he still suffers nightmares after seeing his son in hospital.
“With the loss of my son and everything in-between, it has impacted me in a huge way,” he said.
“I don’t sleep due to bad dreams and memories of seeing Cameron at the hospital. For months and months I stayed in my room day in, day out, not wanting to socialise. I stopped going to school for six months and when I went back I was not the same person.
“The loss of Cameron doesn’t get easier and there is still a huge hole in my heart that will never be filled.”
He added that Cameron’s death continues to affect the wider family, who “carry the loss daily”.