Sandra Riley

Sandra Riley had a difficult upbringing, being abandoned by her own parents at two months' old, and she was long known to social services in Macclesfield, her home town.[4] She had a baby girl in 1973 who was given up for adoption.[4] Her second child, a boy, was born in 1974 but mysteriously died shortly afterwards – at the time this was recorded as a cot death.[4] In December 1976 she had another child, Andrew, with her new husband Stanley.[4] Just a few days later the child was hospitalised with a skull fracture but a police investigation concluded that it seemed accidental, although the child was put on an "at-risk" register.[4]

Andrew was taken off the at-risk register in 1979.[4][8] Next, in January 1981, Riley gave birth to a third boy Christopher, but within two months he was found dead in his cot.[4] An open verdict was recorded and cot death was cited as the cause, but then in March 1983, Riley's newly born fourth son was also found dead less than two months after his birth.[4] On this occasion she quickly admitted killing the child, revealing that she had held a pillow to the boy's face and smothered him to death.[4] Under police questioning she then revealed that she had killed Christopher in the same circumstances.[4] She was subsequently convicted of two counts of infanticide, but because experts (wrongly) decided that she was not a threat to her only remaining son Andrew or any other child she was only given a two-year probation order.[4] It was incorrectly believed that there was no psychiatric indications that Riley was a danger.[8] Her husband allowed her to move back in with their son, which he later said was a mistake that would "haunt" him.[11]

In April 1985, while still on probation, Riley was left alone at home with her son Andrew and she drowned him in the bath.[4] After he was taken to the bath the boy asked "is it my turn to die, mummy?" and as she forced his head under the water, the child begged "please don't kill me mum".[12][7][13] Riley was arrested and pleaded guilty at trial to manslaughter with diminished responsibility, and also pleaded guilty to an arson charge, having 12 months earlier set fire to the family house while her son played with a friend inside.[7] When admitting to police that she killed him, she said "it should have been Bryan" – referring to her 38-year-old husband.[7] She was committed to Moss Side Mental Hospital indefinitely, with four doctors agreeing she was a psychopath.[10][8][7][1]

Of Riley's five children, her four sons all died, and the only surviving child was the baby daughter given up for adoption soon after her birth.[8] There was considerable suspicion that the baby whose death was put down to cot death was also a victim of Riley.[13][8] Her husband declared that he was disowning her, saying that "if they brought back hanging now I would willingly give a year's wages to be the one to pull the lever" and "they [the authorities] should have picked up what was wrong instead of diagnosing post-natal depression".[11] There was considerable outrage at the events and the fact that three children had been managed to be killed by Riley despite social service intervention.[7][8][4][13] Subsequently, in February 1986, the case was discussed in Parliament.[9]

• Maxine Robinson – contemporary UK serial killer mother
• Beverley Allitt
• Amelia Dyer
• Angela Cannings
• Trupti Patel
• Sally Clark
• Donna Anthony