Mother sends partner a final picture of two-year-old daughter before killing her after he ended their relationship

A mother intentionally killed her 2-year-old daughter by smothering her before trying to commit suicide, a court has heard. She did so after her relationship with the baby's daddy ended.
Just before killing little Macey, Cody-Anne Jackson, 20, sent angry text messages to her ex Paul Hogan. One of the messages came with a picture of the little girl and words that read: "Sorry, just thought you deserved one last picture and memory of her".


Only a week before the October tragedy, Paul had moved out of the family home they shared in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, England. Cody-Anne did not take that well and she began sending him a string of messages between October 7 to 9.

On October 8, she sent Paul the photo of Macey with the chilling message. But Paul did not do anything about the messages which should have triggered warning bells. On October 9, she kept calling Paul repeatedly but he did not pick up. Cody knew then that her relationship with Paul had reached a "tipping point" and any prospect of reconciliation had vanished, so she locked herself up at home with her daughter on October 9 and by the morning of October 10, she dialled 999 to report that her daughter was not breathing.

Police arrived the home and smashed the door to find Macey dead. Cody-Anne was found with superficial knife wounds and there was a suicide note. Stafford Crown Court was told the "socially-isolated"' mother suffocated Macey before making a botched attempt to take her own life.

Prosecutor Jonas Hankin QC said:

"This child suffered widespread brain damage caused by the interruption of oxygenated blood supply to the brain. Something has interfered with her ability to breathe."

Cody-Anne denied killing her daughter intentionally. In her defence statement, the mother claims she put Macey to bed at 6.30 p.m. and went to bed herself after taking her prescribed medication. She said Macey suffocated while sleeping in bed next to her, and that she tried to kill herself after discovering her daughter's lifeless body.

According to her, Macey woke up so she put the child into her bed at 7.25 p.m. and then fell asleep. She woke later to find Macey next to her in between two pillows. Her pillow was slightly over Macey's face and she moved it only to discover she was not breathing. Her body was cold and she realised she was dead. When she saw she could do nothing to revive the child, she claims she decided not to call the emergency services and instead lay in bed with her daughter's body. Later, she went downstairs and got two kitchen knives then returned with them to her bedroom to kill herself. She eventually called emergency services at 9:56 a.m. on Monday.

When the police got to her house minutes later, they could not open the bedroom door fully because it was blocked by Macey's body. Cody was sitting cross-legged behind Macey and performing CPR but it was obvious to the officer that Macey had been dead for a while. Four knives were found in the bedroom and a suicide note addressed to Cody's uncle, Craig Jackson.

The note read:

"I sit here thinking about killing my own daughter and then killing myself. I do not want to leave her behind but I can't go on either. There is nothing for me or Macey."

Cody-Anne's trial, which is expected to last about three weeks, continues.