The court of appeal has quashed the prison sentence of a heavily pregnant woman so that she can give birth safely, in a case hailed as a landmark by campaigners.
The woman, 22, is almost eight months pregnant and has been diagnosed with potentially life threatening pre-eclampsia, which affects the mother’s blood vessels and the baby’s blood supply.
The woman was sentenced to five years for possession of a firearm and ammunition, and was serving two and a half years in prison. She did not discover she was pregnant until she was given a routine pregnancy test on arrival in prison.
Campaigners have previously argued that no pregnant women should be housed in the prison estate. In September 2019, a newborn baby, Aisha Cleary, was found dead in a prison cell in HMP Bronzefield after her mother, Rianna, gave birth alone. According to government data, in 2022-23 there were 44 births by women in custody, 98% of them in hospital.
Pippa Woodrow, counsel for the pregnant woman, told a court of appeal hearing on Thursday that the risk of the woman going into premature labour was “live”, and that the management of her pregnancy in prison “does not even seem to meet the requirements of her condition”.
She added that the woman had “a significant history of trauma and mental ill health” and that she was “immature and vulnerable”.
In relation to her crime, Woodrow said: “She has no ongoing association with the negative peers who got her into this mess.”
In an oral ruling, Lord Justice Holroyde, the vice-president of the court of appeal criminal division, along with Mr Justice Garnham and Mr Justice Andrew Baker, said: “We regard this as a quite exceptional case.”
The judges quashed the sentence she had received from a criminal court and replaced it with a two-year suspended sentence with a rehabilitation requirement.
Addressing the woman, who listened tearfully to the judges’ ruling via a video link inside prison, Holroyde said: “This is quite an exceptional course the court is taking. We are doing it because of the exceptional features of your case.”
The woman’s mother, who was in court for the ruling, said afterwards: “I have got my daughter back. Thank you so much. She’s a good girl but she got caught up with the wrong person. Now she can give birth in hospital with me by her side and we can raise this baby together.”
The mother feared her daughter may suffer a similar fate to Rianna Cleary if she gave birth while in prison. She contacted Level Up, which campaigns for an end to the imprisonment of pregnant women, and provided her with help and support.
Janey Starling, a co-director of Level Up, said: “This landmark judgment marks a sea change in sentencing practices. Several other countries do not imprison pregnant women or new mothers and England’s courts are beginning to catch up. Prison will never be a safe place to be pregnant.
“The prison ombudsman, Ministry of Justice and NHS have declared all pregnancies in prison as high risk. This means that when a judge sentences a pregnant woman to prison, they are sentencing her to a high-risk pregnancy. That is unconscionable.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Custody is always the last resort for women, and independent judges consider mitigating factors, like pregnancy, when making sentencing decisions.
“We have made meaningful progress in improving the care available for pregnant women in jail, such as employing specialist mother-and-baby liaison officers in every female prison, and enhancing welfare checks and social services support.”
