A mum who drowned her two-year-old son in the bath after becoming fixated with the idea her family were possessed by demons has been detained under the Mental Health Act.
Natalie Steele, 31, admitted the manslaughter of her son Reid, who was found unresponsive at her family home on Parkwood Heights, Bridgend, on the evening of August 11, 2021.
In the months before the killing, Steele had reported having delusions, including seeing floating orbs and believing that her family had been possessed by spirits.
Two forensic psychiatrists agreed Steele was suffering from an undiagnosed and untreated mental illness, and the Crown Prosecution Service did not seek a trial for murder.
Detaining Steele under sections 37 and 41 of the Mental Health Act on Tuesday at Cardiff Crown Court, Judge Michael Fitton QC described the case as "a profound human tragedy".
She had been playing in the bath with Reid at home in in Broadlands, Bridgend, hours after they returned home from a happy camping holiday.
But she snapped after suffering from psychotic depression - and claimed that "spirits had been touching her" before the tragedy.
Doctors concluded Steele's belief she was protecting Reid by sending him to heaven.
Cardiff Crown Court heard Steele and Reid lived in a three-storey detached five-bedroom home with her mother, stepfather and brother.
Reid was described as "super, super-happy, gorgeous, wonderful and intelligent little boy".
Prosecutor Michael Jones said that after getting out of the bathroom Steele told her parents: "You'd better come upstairs, I think, I think, I done..."
Her mum Amanda Prescott said her daughter was not speaking in proper sentences, the prosecutor explained.
She found Reid lying in the middle of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and attempted CPR.
Mr Jones said paramedics and police arrived as Steele stood around "looking vacantly" and "shaking" as Reid was "lying across the bathroom floor naked with his feet to the door."
Reid was airlifted to hospital and medics were able to restart his heart but he tragically died the following day.
The court heard Steele had been interested in "New Age theories" - and had become a Christian in the months before Reid's death by attending church regularly.
She and Reid were on the church-organised camping trip when fellow campers became concerned about her behaviour and asked a friend to collect her.
Friend Heidi Ackland drove to the campsite near New Quay in West Wales to visit Steele and see how she was before deciding best to bring her and Reid home.
But the court heard tragically Reid was found dead just hours later.
Steele is said to have become "upset" about not being allowed to be baptised during the camping holiday.
Mr Jones said Steele denied she was trying to baptise Reid when she drowned him in the bath.
Steele denied murder but admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility.
The court heard former carpet company sales manager Steele had been "suffering from a mental disorder for a number of months".
Dr Tom Wynne told the court he believed Steele suffered psychotic depression at the time of Reid’s death or paranoid schizophrenia with a depressive illness.
In a statement after the hearing, Reid's family said: "Our lives have changed forever."
It added: "Natalie really was a wonderful mother.
“As a family, we unanimously agree that the Judge’s decision today was the right one.
"Natalie will continue to receive the treatment she needs, to hopefully, in time, get better."
