Telford baby kidnap plot was a 'pre-meditated pipe dream', says judge
Kelly Mahon's bid to kidnap a nine-week-old baby was labelled a "pipe dream" by a Shropshire judge.
Sentencing her to two years in jail at Shrewsbury Crown Court, Judge Jim Tindal told her it was an "incredibly selfish act". He said: "This is a strange and troubling case and it seems to me that the roots lay quite deep in your past.
"For 16 years you were in a relationship with a man who was controlling and violent.
"You stayed with him for the sake of your daughter however you got pregnant and had an abortion. After that you were sterilised.
"Seven years later you leave him and then meet you current partner who is desperate to have more children. You were stood at a crossroads – one path lead to being honest to your partner and the other was to lie to him.
"None of what happened is his fault. It is entirely down to you.
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"In 2013 you said you were pregnant and lost the baby and then in 2015/16 you said you were pregnant again and it got out of hand.
"You were enjoying the attention that came with being pregnant and showed people a fake scan and told them a fake due date. The lie got out of hand. You started to develop a plan. Then, in February 2016, you had a pipe dream.
"This was a pre-meditated incident. You had seen the baby and mother before. You went to the house and told an awful and cynical lie and scared her into leaving the baby with you.
"Then you tricked someone else into taking you and the baby to your house.
"As a parent I cannot begin to imagine the terror you caused the child's parents as they frantically tried to find their baby.
"Thankfully the baby was found unhurt and will probably have very little memory of what happened.
"However, the parents will have been scarred for the rest of their life.
"You have no significant criminal history and the psychiatric reports predict no risk of reoffending. It was an incredibly selfish act because you have a daughter. You were so wrapped up in your own concerns and obsessions."
Mahon was ordered to serve at least half of her sentence, and was also disqualified from working with children for life.
