Читать книгу Parents Who Kill - Shocking True Stories of The World's Most Evil Parents - Carol Anne Davis - Страница 11

On their arrival in New York on 14 September, Caroline was again tired and moody. Paul’s brothers kept asking her what was wrong but she repeatedly insisted that she was fine and they understandably assumed that she was still recovering from her bereavement. She spent much of their sightseeing visits staring unfocusedly into the distance and was always keen to return to their Manhattan hotel. Paul told her that it was time she got over Alison’s death, but when she remained unenthusiastic about touring the city, he decided to give her some space and increasingly went out, leaving her watching TV in their room.

At 5pm on 22 September, Caroline went into labour after encouraging the men to go out for the evening. She spent the next six hours in agony, then gave birth in the bath where, at one stage, she possibly passed out. She cut the cord and left the baby floating in the water whilst she went to the loo and expelled the afterbirth. She later said that the baby wasn’t breathing so she put it into a plastic bag, placed the package in a duffle bag and put it next to her bed. The following morning she toured New York City with her boyfriend and his brothers and carried the bag containing the dead baby the entire time.

That afternoon, the men went for a final drink at JFK airport in New York before their return flight, whilst Caroline went to the loo. A security guard who was scanning the terminal for anything suspicious saw her hanging around and noticed that she looked frightened and possibly pregnant. He wondered if she was smuggling something under her coat. He conferred with a female officer, who thought that Caroline had a money bag strapped to her stomach and told her to remove it and put it through the metal detector. But the English tourist refused and tried to return to the ladies room.

When security staff persisted, she admitted that the bag strapped to her stomach contained a baby and she said that she didn’t want her friends to see.

Staff took her into a side room, opened the bag and saw the corpse of a 7.5lb baby girl. By now Caroline was shaking uncontrollably and begged them not to tell her boyfriend. (The prosecution would later speculate that it was not his baby.) She became even more distressed when they handcuffed her so was detained as an Emotionally Disturbed Person and taken to Queens General Hospital where detectives handcuffed her to the bed.

Informed of what had transpired by detectives, Paul and his brothers were understandably stunned. Paul tried to contact Caroline but apparently she said that she didn’t want to see him. Back in England, he went into shock. He began writing to Caroline on a weekly basis and they would later talk on the phone. Her parents were also very supportive, working tirelessly to get her the best legal help.

Meanwhile, zealous prosecutors decided that Caroline Beale should be charged with second degree murder and she was sent to Riker’s Island, one of America’s toughest jails. It was the last place that a young woman in the throes of a nervous breakdown deserved to be, though her vulnerability was recognised and she was put on suicide watch.

Visitors found that she was desperately thin with a ghostly complexion. She shook constantly and cried so much that she often became incoherent. Paul became ill with glandular fever and their already-failing long distance relationship broke down.

After eight months Caroline was let out on bail but forbidden to leave America before her trial, a daunting edict for a woman who was desperate to return to her parents. She stayed with some of her American supporters but they noted that she was hoarding her anti-depressants and feared that she would commit suicide.