A mother from County Durham has been sentenced to seven years in prison after her baby son drowned in the bathtub while she played a cooking game on her phone.
Danielle Massey, 31, was found guilty of manslaughter following the death of her seven-month-old son, Charlie Goodall, on 16 February 2022. Charlie was left unsupervised in a bath seat that was not properly secured, causing him to fall into the water.
Teesside Crown Court was told that when emergency services arrived at Massey’s home in West Chilton Terrace, Chilton, they found Charlie unresponsive in the bath. Paramedics had been called by police after Massey had phoned 999.
Massey admitted that it was her fault the bath seat was not properly fixed and pleaded guilty to manslaughter. She also acknowledged she had smoked cannabis on the day of Charlie’s death. However, she denied intentionally leaving her son unattended for a long period of time.
Massey explained that she had briefly left the ground-floor bathroom to retrieve a towel from upstairs. She claimed she then became short of breath and sat down on the sofa to rest. She stated that when she returned to the bathroom, she found Charlie unresponsive and immediately called for help.
However, during the trial, Massey gave conflicting accounts of how long Charlie had been left alone, ranging from two to ten minutes. The court was also presented with digital evidence showing that Massey had used an app, “Cooking Madness: A Chef’s Game,” for 26 minutes during the time Charlie was alone in the bath. Massey insisted she had not been playing the game at the time of Charlie’s death, claiming it was simply running in the background.
Following a Newton hearing, Judge Mr. Justice Goss rejected Massey’s version of events. He said Massey’s statements were inconsistent and unconvincing, pointing to her use of the game as evidence that she had deliberately chosen to engage in other activities rather than properly supervise her child.
The judge criticized Massey for failing to prepare adequately for bathing Charlie, noting that she had been more concerned with her own activities than ensuring the baby’s safety. He dismissed her claim that she had been exhausted and had closed her eyes, instead asserting that she had been awake and active during the critical time.
The court heard that Massey and her son had lived in a mother and toddler unit for several months before returning home. A child protection plan for Charlie had ended just days before his death, with Charlie’s case transitioning to a voluntary arrangement with social services.
Prosecutor Richard Wright KC told the court that Massey had attended at least one course on baby bathing, which included guidance on not leaving a baby of Charlie’s age unsupervised in the bath. The bath seat that Charlie was placed in should have been fixed to the tub using suction pads, but it could not be properly secured due to the curvature of the bath.
Wright argued that the cause of Charlie’s death was not simply the faulty seat but the prolonged period he was left alone in the bath. He emphasized that Massey’s decision to leave the bathroom and focus on other tasks, including playing on her phone, had been a deliberate one, not an accident.
Defending Massey, Martin Sharpe acknowledged that Massey had a strong bond with her son and did not intend to harm him. However, he admitted that she had been disorganized, failed to follow proper instructions, and should never have left Charlie unattended.
Despite the defense’s argument, the court sentenced Massey to seven years in prison for manslaughter.
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