A woman who longed to be a wife and mother drowned her “treasure” of a daughter in a pond near her East Hampshire home after being “plunged into darkness” by postpartum depression and a mental breakdown.

Winchester Crown Court heard Alice Mackey took her two-year-old girl Annabel to Kingsley Pond on September 10, 2023, because the 42-year-old felt she was a “bad mother” and her daughter would be better off without her.

But it was accepted a disorder which developed following afterbirth was “never really resolved”, with her actions being put down to the combination of postpartum depression and a decision to stop taking medication not long before the tragedy.

Mackey, who initially claimed her daughter had been snatched from the family home on Forge Road, was sentenced this afternoon at Winchester Crown Court after previously admitting to manslaughter by way of diminished responsibility.

The defendant, now of Gibbs Lane, Oakhanger, was handed a four-year sentence by Justice Saini following an upsetting morning which included testimony from Annabel’s father and family.

Adam Vaitalingham KC, prosecuting, told the court that Mackey reported Annabel’s disappearance around 5pm with two officers finding her looking for Annabel at the pond shortly afterwards.

They administered CPR before paramedics and doctors arrived and Annabel was taken to Southampton General Hospital, where her death was confirmed the next day. The defendant kept up the pretence her daughter had been taken when she was really feeding them lies.

Mr Vaitalingham said: “She had taken Annabel from her home to a nearby pond and held her under the water until she stopped struggling.

“She returned to the house knowing what she had done was wrong and made the call saying she had no idea what had happened.”

The court heard that while Mackey later gave a “no comment” interview to police, she had told a psychiatrist she had killed Annabel.

It was revealed the defendant had never really recovered for postpartum depression and suffered from psychosis and anxiety. She had also previously been sectioned after her husband, Peter, found her trying to leave the house through a window.

She was placed on medication but stopped taking it in January 2023, leading to a deterioration in her mental state and her thinking becoming “substantially impaired”.

Annabel’s father, Peter, told the court in a harrowing statement how he had been left “deeply traumatised at the thought” of how her daughter had been killed.

He said: “I’m tormented by how frightened she must have been – Annabel was my little friend and we had a very special bond.

“Annabel’s death has left me traumatised, anxious and heartbroken. My life will never be the same.”

Statements from other family members read by the police called Mackey’s behaviour “heinous and selfish beyond words” with her grandmother saying: “She was a treasure – her life was stolen from her.”

Mr Gibbs, in mitigation, said Mackey’s actions were primarily down to two failures: her decision to stop taking medication and to get help.

He said: “She is unendingly sorry for what she has done.

“She is sorry for taking Annabel’s life and all the pain she has caused to everyone.

“She regrets every moment of what happened and wishes above everything else in the world that Annabel was still here.”

Justice Saini took Mackey’s guilty plea, remorse and previous good character into consideration in sentencing, saying: “It was agreed your ability to form a rational judgement was impaired by your illness.

“You killed Annabel with the delusional belief the best was to protect her was to kill her and you believed she was suffering under your care.”