Mother's appeal against sentence for killing her own daughter fails (From Bury Times)

Mother's appeal against sentence for killing her own daughter fails

3:47pm Thursday 14th February 2013 in Bury

A DESPERATE mother who stabbed her daughter to death and tried to kill herself by drinking anti-freeze has failed to have her sentence cut at London’s Appeal Court.

Former nurse, Dawn Makin, aged 35, hatched a plan to kill herself and four-year-old Chloe after falling victim to crippling debts and increasing social isolation, the court heard.

One of the final straws came when she was let down by a former lover on Valentine's Day, which she "took very badly", the court heard.

Her mother and a neighbour grew anxious about her welfare and broke into her home in Lea Mount Drive, Fairfield.

Makin had stabbed Chloe to death, said the judge, and "defensive wounds" on the child's arms indicated she had tried to fight back when her mother attacked her.

Makin's mother found Makin and Chloe lying side by side, with Makin deeply unconscious.

Chloe was dead, but Makin survived with massive injuries which have left her wheelchair-bound.

She was jailed for 12 years at Preston Crown Court in August last year after admitting manslaughter.

Challenging her sentence, her lawyers claimed it was a case of "extended suicide" and the jail term took insufficient account of her disturbed state of mind at the time.

Mr Justice Eder, sitting with Lord Justice Leveson and Judge Michael Stokes QC, said Makin's crime was "truly appalling", noting she had inflicted "horrific injuries" on her own daughter.

Although Makin was acutely depressed at the time she had the "necessary intention to kill", the judge concluded. "We don't consider it is arguable that the sentence was wrong in principle or manifestly excessive."