London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Aug 22, 2026

Mum doesn't give a damn and poses for camera outside court over baby death

Mum doesn't give a damn and poses for camera outside court over baby death

A woman who left her baby son to die in his cot posed for pictures outside court before she was jailed for child cruelty.

Stacey Davis, 31, left Ethan in his cot while she went to a local park and ran errands.

For two hours the one-year-old had nobody caring for him when the temperature hit 27°C with windows closed and no fan.

When she returned two hours later she failed to check on Ethan for another 30 minutes, texting a friend instead, before discovering his lifeless body in his cot.

He was pronounced dead shortly after arriving in hospital on June 27, 2018.

It was later discovered that he had a five-inch skull fracture but the cause of death remained unascertained after a post-mortem.

She said that he had fallen and banged his head but admitted she didn’t take him to hospital despite swelling, bruising and obvious stress.


Stacey Davis appeared very relaxed as she headed to court

Her defence lawyer, Mark Ashley, said she was suffering from post-natal depression after he was born prematurely via C-section and needed colon surgery, resulting in a two-month hospital stay.

He said she had struggled to bond with Ethan and did not visit him in hospital much because she couldn’t get lifts from her family.

Cannabis was found in his hair, which Davis said was because she smoked weed around him regularly.

Mr Ashley said: ‘She was coping with it in the wrong way – she was smoking cannabis’.

Judge Parkes KC cut him off saying: ‘It was incredibly stupid. Go outside and do it.’

Describing Davis’ behaviour as ‘thoroughly selfish’ and jailing her for two years Judge Parkes KC said: ‘There is no evidence you or his father caused Ethan’s death, no suggestion you did so.

Baby Ethan Davis,1, died in his crib after being left alone in a hot room with a fractured skull for over two hours while his mum went out shopping

Stacey Davis smiled and waved to photographers outside Salisbury court before being sentenced to two years in jail for child cruelty


‘The sad fact is that you fell very seriously short of the duty owed to Ethan as his mother.

‘He suffered a 15cm skull fracture one-to-three weeks before his death, likely to be from blunt impact of significant force.

‘You failed to seek medical attention for the injury to his head. Any normal parent would put the child’s health before anything.

‘It is clear you abandoned him on two occasions, including the day of this death.

‘This is aggravated by the fact it happened twice. You left Ethan alone in his cot in a room with a closed window.

‘What is particularly appalling about this episode is that you spent half an hour on the phone, sending and receiving messages [when you arrived home], until you went to check on Ethan.

‘You had not seen him, checked on him, for nearly three hours.’

Davis has started a drug rehabilitation course but smoked it this week due to her ‘stress levels being particularly high.’

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
The rise and fall of Hui Ka Yan, China’s richest man
Woke: Britain Considers Plain Packaging for Cigars as Specialist Shops Warn of Industry Collapse
Britain's Public-Service Productivity Remains Below 2019 as £80 Billion Output Gap Fuels WFH Debate
Mandelson Epstein Case in Jeopardy as U.S. Files Stay Out of Reach
Prince Harry and Six Others Ordered to Pay £9.5 Million After High Court Defeat
Bank of England Holds Interest Rate at 3.75% as Inflation and Energy Risks Persist
UK AI Security Tests Find Autonomous Agent Attempting Malicious Code Injection
UK Economy Grows 0.4% in Second Quarter Amid Global Pressures
UK Joins European Allies in Condemning Israeli Settlement Plans in West Bank E1 Area
Multiple People Killed in A66 Collision Near Middlesbrough Involving Police Vehicle
UK Government Holds First National Day for Victims and Survivors of Terrorism
UK Met Office Warns of Severe Autumn Storms as Strong El Niño Follows Historic Drought
Petrol Bombs Set Luxury Cars Alight Outside Birmingham Wedding as Police Hunt Three Men
Bitcoin Surges Toward $80,000 as Short Squeeze and ETF Inflows Ignite Crypto Rally
Prince Harry and Co-Claimants Ordered to Pay £9.5 Million Toward Daily Mail Publisher’s Legal Costs
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Reportedly Plan Return to Britain With Their Children
UK Court Ruling Threatens Deportation Plans for Potential Trafficking Victims to Albania
Kemi Badenoch Presses UK Government for Decisions on Rosebank and Jackdaw Oil Fields
UK Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Calls for Ban on Goods from Occupied West Bank
Andy Burnham Government to Place Civil Servants Directly in English Mayoral Offices
Met Office Warns Major El Niño Could Bring Stormier, Wetter Autumn to UK
UK Economy Gains Unexpected Momentum Ahead of Andy Burnham Government’s First Budget
Twenty-Nine US States Take Meta to Trial Over Alleged Child Addiction on Instagram and Facebook
Former Scottish National Party Executive Peter Murrell Jailed for Five Years Over £400,000 Embezzlement
Moderna and Merck's Personalized Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in Historic Late-Stage Melanoma Trial
Prince Harry and Meghan to Move Back to Britain With Their Children
England and Wales Have Fewer Than 1,800 Prison Places Left for Men
Royal Navy to Accelerate DragonFire Laser Deployment Against Growing Drone Threat
Northern Ireland Approves Five Hundred Million Pound Belfast Harbour Expansion
Great British Railways Takes Full Control of Avanti West Coast as Rail Nationalisation Reaches Final Stage
UK AI Safety Institute Calls for Mandatory Security Audits of Advanced AI Models
Scotland Secures Three Billion Pounds for Floating Offshore Wind Hub in Aberdeen
Government Overrides Local Councils to Approve Green Belt Housing Across Southern England
UK and EU Move Toward Mutual Recognition of Food Standards to Ease Cross-Channel Trade
Government Plans Multibillion-Pound Private Healthcare Expansion to Cut NHS Surgical Backlogs
Bank of England Signals Faster Rate Cuts as Inflation Falls Below the Two Percent Target
Suspected People Smuggler Arrested After Investigation Identified Him
Children's Doctors Warn That Vaping Can Lead Young People to Smoking
Hundreds of Thousands of Students Receive GCSE and Vocational Results Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Here Is What Can Never Happen in Your Country: Taiwan Is Giving Money to All Its People Because It Collected Too Much Tax
UK Inflation Rises to 2.9% as Energy Bills Jump
UK Issues New Conduct Guide for Asylum Seekers on Consent and Respect
Moderna Shares Surge After Positive Personalized Skin Cancer Trial Results
UK Markets Watch US National Debt Surpass Forty Trillion Dollars
UK Broadcasters Urge Government to Invest in Digital Participation and Broadband
CVC Capital Partners and Standard Life Launch Two Billion Pound Pension Risk Transfer Venture
UK Private Sector Productivity Growth Accelerates in Second Quarter
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband Condemns Israeli E1 Settlement Tender
UK Watchdog Investigates Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and RED Driving School Over Hidden Fees
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Plan Move to Private Home Outside London
×