Mum drowned her two year old son in bath ‘to protect him from demons’ and send him to heaven

A mum has been arrested after she admitted to the manslaughter of her two yr previous son Reid..

Natalie Steele, 31, drowned her two-year-old son within the bathtub ‘to ship him to heaven’ after changing into paranoid her household had been possessed by spirits.

Her son was discovered unresponsive at her household dwelling on Parkwood Heights, Bridgend, on the night of August 11 final yr. He was declared useless in hospital the next day. 

Steele, who had not too long ago transformed to Christianity, had been delusional months earlier than the killing and reportedly noticed floating orbs and  demons. 

 She has now been detained underneath the Psychological Well being Act. After her arrest, she informed police she wanted to guard her son by sending him to heaven. 

Police say she needed to be admitted to hospital from jail as a result of she refused to eat or drink, telling police she needed to quick for 40 days so she may be a part of her son, Reid in heaven. 

Two forensic psychiatrists agreed Steele was affected by an undiagnosed and untreated psychological sickness on the time of the killing, and the Crown Prosecution Service didn’t search a trial for homicide citing her psychological well being challenges.

Detaining Steele underneath Part 37 and 41 of the Psychological Well being Act at Cardiff Crown Courtroom on Tuesday, Might 3, Choose Michael Fitton QC described the case as ‘a profound human tragedy’. 

‘It’s a profound human tragedy that it was you who cherished (Reid) so dearly that brought about this lack of life,’ he mentioned. 

‘You probably did so whenever you had been struggling a interval of great and extreme psychological sickness – that’s the clear opinion of the professionals.’ 

 ‘You had been topic to visible and auditory hallucinations and also you had paranoid beliefs and also you had been working underneath the horrible mistake that your personal household that cherished Reid as dearly as you probably did needed to hurt him.’ 

The character of the decide’s order means Steele is not going to be despatched to jail when she is deemed match to be launched from hospital. 

Throughout the sentencing listening to, the courtroom heard Steele had informed her mom Amanda Prescott, that she had been ‘seeing lights’ and informed her ‘demons are darkish and actual’

The night time earlier than Reid’s loss of life, the defendant had been on a tenting journey along with her church in New Quay, west Wales, then she demanded to be instantly baptised. 

A buddy throughout the congregation, Heidi Ackland, who was not on the journey, drove to the toen early on the morning of August 11 to talk to Steele and persuade her to return dwelling along with her. 

Ms Ackland described Steele as ‘talking gibberish’ and telling her that she needed to be a sacrifice. 

On the journey dwelling, Ms Ackland seen that Steele was compulsively checking on her son in his automobile seat within the again, saying issues like ‘I like you Reid’ and stored taking her personal seatbelt off. 

Ms Ackland mentioned she feared the defendant would possibly try to depart the transferring car whereas the kid was within the automobile.

Later that night, after dropping Steele on the dwelling, she acquired a textual content from her saying: ‘I’ve carried out one thing horrible, I needed to defend Reid from my household.’ 

Steele’s mom Amanda Prescott informed police her daughter had taken her grandson for his bathtub at round 6pm  however had come downstairs at round 7.30pm saying: ‘I feel I carried out.’ 
 ‘I carried out it.’ 

Mrs Prescott mentioned she had ‘gone into panic mode’ and rushed upstairs to search out Reid unconscious and wrapped in a towel on the toilet ground. 

 
Steele later informed cops she had been enjoying ‘cups of tea’ with Reid within the bathtub and had breast fed him earlier than holding him underwater. 

The defendant mentioned she was ‘actually apprehensive’ about her household, saying they’d ‘creepy eyes’ and including that she had ‘issues with spirits’ and ‘spirits had been touching her’. 

She informed her mom: ‘I felt I needed to defend him from you.’ 

In her police interviews, she mentioned her mom, step-father and siblings had ‘huge eyes’ and ‘contorted’ faces, and she or he believed they had been possessed by demons. 

After passing sentence, Choose Fitton supplied his condolences to the household, telling them they ‘carry no blame or accountability in anyway’ for not recognizing the chance Steele posed to her son.