My wife's 'unadoptable' baby was left to die at unmarried mothers' home

Sick babies – who were considered unsuitable for adoption – were allowed to die at a church-run mother and baby home in Cumbria, according to a new study of documents by a leading academic. The findings have been welcomed by one man who has fought for years to uncover the truth of what happened there.

"She genuinely thought she was a wicked person. She thought she was worthless, and that's how she spent the rest of her life."

Steve Hindley's wife Judith struggled to talk about what happened to her as a teenager when she was sent, pregnant and terrified, to a home for unmarried mothers in Kendal, Cumbria.

Judith said she had become pregnant after being raped. She was one of tens of thousands of young girls and women sent away to have their babies, hidden from society due to the shame of their unmarried status. Many had their babies forcibly adopted.

Judith's son Stephen was born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus at St Monica's Maternity Home in January 1964. Despite her pleading for medical attention, he died 11 weeks later, having been denied hospital treatment.

One of the country's leading experts in homes for unmarried mothers has spent months piecing together surviving records about St Monica's, which was run by the Church of England.

Dr Michael Lambert, a lecturer in medical humanities at Lancaster University, studied hundreds of national and regional archive documents to build a picture of how and why Stephen Holt - and other infants - died.

The conclusion of his 80-page report found Judith's baby was left to die because his disability made him an unattractive proposition for adoption.

"It is clear that according to the standards of the day, he was denied access to modern medical care because his mother was unmarried, he was illegitimate, and his short life was contained in an institution whose culture was centred on secrecy and providing desirable children for adoption," Lambert's report says.

"In short, in such a context, because Stephen was born with a disability, he was left or enabled to die in what were deemed his best interests given the range of alternatives by those tasked with his care."

The research - now handed to Cumbria Police - concluded other babies were also allowed to die at the home because they were unadoptable.

"The infants that aren't being cared for where the deaths are taking place are disproportionately those that aren't desirable for adoption," it finds.

After Stephen's death, Judith vowed to become a nurse and devoted her life to the care of sick and terminally ill children.

But she never overcame the trauma