New photo Mother, 38, who drowned and burned her four-year-old daughter found not guilty of murder

A mother who drown and burned her four-year-old daughter has today been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity by a jury. 

Carly Ann Harris, 38, killed her daughter Amelia Brooke Harris in a 'sacrifice' at their home in South Wales in June this year. 

Harris had suffered from schizophrenia following a urinary tract infection in 2014, the court heard. 

A psychiatrist said she appeared to have experienced 'paranoid and religious delusions' and believed she had to kill Amelia to save the world, and was being tested by God who would then return her daughter to her.

Carly Ann Harris, 38, drowned and burned her four-year-old daughter Amelia Brooke Harris (right)

Carly Ann Harri was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity by a jury

Newport Crown Court was told that Amelia's teenage brother found her body, wrapped in a sheet, on a table in their garden in Trealaw, Rhondda, South Wales, on June 8 this year.

Neighbours heard screaming and went into the street to see what was wrong, before finding Harris's older children, who were visibly distressed.

The court heard that neighbour Megan Griffiths saw Harris standing in the front garden, looking 'dazed', and the defendant told her: 'God will be with her. The angels have taken her.'

The neighbour dialled 999 and went into the back garden of Harris's house where she saw Amelia's charred remains lying on the coffee table covered with a sheet. When the police arrived at the scene, Harris told them: 'The angels told me to do it. Just arrest me. It's OK.'

One of Harris's two sons said his mother had 'not been well' for some six weeks before the incident, the court heard.

Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Jones concluded Amelia had died from drowning and was already dead when she was set on fire.

Harris had been taking 'small amounts' of amphetamines leading up to the incident, but experts agreed she had not been suffering from drug-induced psychosis.

Dr Arden Tomison, a psychiatrist, diagnosed Harris with schizophrenia and said at the time she was suffering form 'abnormality of mental function which substantially impaired her ability to form a rational judgment'. 

Another psychiatrist, Dr Phillip Joseph, agreed Harris had suffered from schizophrenia following a urinary tract infection in 2014.

Harris, from Brithweunydd Road, Trealaw, Tonypandy, denied murder and manslaughter.

Jurors have been told there was no dispute that Harris killed her daughter or about events leading up to the incident, but they were tasked with deciding whether she was not guilty of murder by reason of insanity, or guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Trial judge, Mr Justice Picken, told the panel of six men and six women they had the option of returning a 'special verdict' in the circumstances of this case.

'You may wonder why you are being asked to consider this. It is because only a jury can return a verdict of not guilty to murder by reason of insanity,' he said.

'The prosecution are not allowed to accept that verdict.'

The judge said the jury should not 'allow yourself to be overcome by emotions - you must calmly assess the evidence'.

'Whether Carly Harris was suffering from a disease of the mind is for something for you to decide,' he said.

'Between the defence and prosecution there are no issues that she was probably suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. That by itself is not sufficient for the defence to be knowingly made out.

'You have to go on to consider that a) she didn't know what she was doing or b) she didn't know what she was doing was wrong by the standards of a reasonable person.

'The prosecution and the defence really focus on b) and say that Carly Harris didn't know that killing her daughter was wrong because she believed her daughter would return.

'The defence say she was suffering from such a significant disease of the mind that she believed she was saving the world by killing her daughter. The prosecution do not take issue with this.'

 

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News Pictures Mother, 38, who drowned and burned her four-year-old daughter found not guilty of murder

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