Natasha Leigh

 The Ogress of Reading was active for over thirty years during the Victorian era killing an estimated 400 children. Amelia Hobley was born at some point in 1836 to a master shoemaker and his wife. She was the youngest of five having three older brothers and an older sister. They were all born in a village called Pyle Marsh to the east of Bristol. She had fallen in love with literature and poetry one of few children at the time to learn how to read and write. It would provide a minimal escape from caring for her mother as she battled with Typhus, a battle she would eventually lose in 1848. Typhus fever is a group of diseases caused by bacteria carried and spread by fleas, lice, and harvest mites and in the 1830s was fairly common in close-knit areas such as London. Not only had Amelia witnessed her mother have violent fits and eventually pass, but she would also watch her older sister Sarah Ann die of unknown reasons in 1841. Sarah was only six years old. In 1845 another of Amelia’s...

A loving mother and wife snaps and kills her two daughters to “punish” her husband after years of a crumbling marriage. Taylor Sheats (left) and Madison Sheats (right) On June 24th, emergency services arrived outside of the Sheats family home after receiving multiple calls about a disturbance and shooting at the house. Right as they parked they would witness Christy Sheats kneel over her eldest daughter, Taylor, and fire one final shot. She refused to lay down her weapon leading to an officer fatally shooting Christy. Just outside of the house’s front door lay Christy’s youngest daughter, Madison, dead on the pavement. But how did a loving mother end up callously murdering her two daughters on their father’s birthday? Four years previously, in 2012, Christy’s grandfather passed away, he had played a large part in raising her so it was like she had lost her father. She would never truly be able to heal from the loss and Christy’s mental state began to rapidly deteriorate. In the followi...

 A mother believed that the only way to save her children from possibly inheriting her mental illnesses was to end their lives. Seth Kehoe October 26th 2008 Gene Kehoe had to make a phone call that no father or husband would ever want to make. His wife and two sons had gone missing whilst the three were taking a trip to visit family. They had planned to spend the day with Michelle Kehoe’s (35) ill mother at her care home in Sumner. It should have only taken them around an hour to drive from their home in Coralville to Sumner but they never arrived. The next morning, at 8 am, Michelle stumbled up to the front door of a home in Littleton. When the door opened Michelle fell into the home, trying to speak to whoever had answered, a slash across her neck was the reason she was struggling to speak. The person at the door grabbed a pen and paper for Michelle to write what it was on whilst they called for emergency services. Michelle wrote, “a man killed my boys and tried to kill me.”. Whe...

A young girl was starved for months leading to her death, and her killers only got charged with manslaughter. On the 25th of February 2010, Angela Gordon and Junaid Abuhamza pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of seven-year-old Khyra Ishaq and five separate counts of child cruelty for the abuse of the five other children in their care. Gordon was sentenced to 15 years while Abuhamza was to be jailed indefinitely for the public's safety, this holding a minimum term of 7 and a half years. But how did they get to this point? How can they abuse six children for years without consequences? All six children's biological father, Ishaq Abuzaire, had left the home at some point in 2004 or 2006. There were claims towards him that he was abusive towards both Gordon and the children but he denies the claims. After Abuzaire left the home one of his friends, Abuhamza, became close to Gordon. By 2007, Abuhamza had moved into the family home and became a parental figure to the children. It woul...

 A couple going through a “somewhat” bitter but escalating divorce led to a devastating double murder-suicide during the early hours of June 6th 2017. Carola and Miguel Arnau had been married for around ten years with two young children when Carola filed for divorce on February 22nd 2016. She described the marriage as “irretrievably broken”. Just a year later, Carola filed for a protection from abuse order accusing Miguel of “inappropriate contact” with their four-year-old son. The claim was dismissed as unfounded by Children and Youth Services. During this time, Miguel’s parental rights were temporarily suspended. All rights were restored on April 4th after Carola withdrew the protection order. Miguel would then sue for custody of the children, being granted a temporary order giving him shared custody. They split care every other weekend and after school until 7 pm. By April 20th, Miguel would drop the complaint against Carola, stating they would resolve the issues privately. On J...

 Long-term abuse lead to the death of an 18-month-old, and her mother was charged with a minimum term of 18 years. Taking care of a child that’s biological parents have been unable to do so themselves is an honour that too many don’t understand. Keegan Downer was one of those children whose biological mother was deemed unfit to care for her right after she was born, spending the first ten months of her life in the foster system, being described as happy and healthy by her carer. Eventually, an extended family member was contacted. Kandyce Downer was deemed the “safest” option for Keegan. She was a mother of four and was often described as a good mother. She had previously but unsuccessfully tried to become Keegan’s older sister’s legal guardian. Downer was given custody through a special guardianship order in January 2015; Keegan moved into the family home in the Weoley Castle area of Birmingham. It isn’t entirely clear when the abuse began but when Keegan was removed from her nurs...

Sentenced to 30 years for murdering her two kids out of fear they would be taken away because of her boyfriend's paedophilia charges. Lianne Smith had become fearfully obsessed with the thought her two youngest children, Daniel (11 months) and Rebecca (5 years), would be taken from her custody by social services. Her fear stemmed from her partner's police questioning in 2007 in regard to sexual abuse allegations made by her oldest daughter from another relationship. Right after the questioning, Lianne and her partner, Martin Smith, took Rebecca and fled to Barcelona. For the next few years, British police were unable to track down Martin for arrest that was until May 2010. Martin was deported back to the UK for trial, getting sentenced to 16 years in jail for 11 counts of rape, attempted rape, indecency with a child and indecent assault. Sarah, Lianne's biological daughter, waved her anonymity to share her story of abuse. It all began in May 1995 when she was 7. She said th...

 A woman confessed to smothering her four-year-old daughter with a pillow in an episode of not taking medication. Zadie Wren Cooper was only four years old when she passed away on July 7th 2016, she had spent three days on life support before tests came back that she had no brain activity. It was after these tests that her family decided it would be best for Zadie to remove life support. It had been a freak accident on July 4th, Zadie somehow getting stuck between her bedframe and wall, unable to breathe. Her mother, Stephanie Smith, heard a noise on the baby monitor and rushed to help her child. When she got there, Zadie wasn’t breathing and Stephanie called emergency services for help. A dispatcher helped her perform CPR while they waited for first responders. Of course, the death of the young child caused investigators to look into the case. They had to make sure that the story that Smith had given them was the truth of what happened. Investigators were waiting for medical and f...

A kidnapping planned by a family “friend” for several years, designed to capture one nine-year-old girl. Katherine ‘Katie’ Beers was born in New York on December 30th 1982 to an unnamed father and her mother Marilyn Beers. She lived in Long Island with her mother and older brother John, they were also living with Katie’s godmother Linda Inghilleri and her husband Sal. Marilyn often left her two children in Linda and Sal’s care, described as being neglectful of the children. Katie later said that she was sexually, and physically. emotionally and verbally abused all through her childhood, Sal being the main abuser in her life. With an atmosphere that seemingly welcomed the abuse, a family friend John Esposito was allowed into the children’s lives. He showered them both with gifts and attention, gaining their trust and being allowed to take either child out on trips alone. It’s reported Esposito began sexually abusing John until Esposito thought he was “too old”. In the past, in 1978, Esp...