Mother sentenced to a minimum of 16 years after murdering two-year-old daughter

The trial at Stafford Crown Court was told Jackson, from Stoke-on-Trent, also wrote a suicide note before the killing, stating: "There's nothing for me or Macey, life's shit."

Jurors heard Jackson, who has a history of self-harm, sent Macey's father, Paul Hogan, a photo of Macey two days before she was found dead with the message: "Sorry, just thought you deserved one last picture and memory of her."

Jackson, 20, of Packett Street, Fenton, initially denied murder, but changed her plea part-way through her trial earlier this month.

Sentencing the student to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 16 years and 114 days, Judge Michael Chambers QC, the Recorder of Stafford, said: "You have had the courage to plead guilty and recognise the enormity of what you have done.

"I accept that may not have come easy but this remains a very serious case - for a mother to kill her young child, who depends on her for protection above all others, is a wicked and appalling act.

"This is not a case where you suffered from mental illness. The clear inference is that you thought about killing yourself and decided to kill Macey as well to prevent her having a life without a mother.

"That was an expression of utter self-absorption."

Opening the case against Jackson at the start of the trial, prosecutor Jonas Hankin QC said Macey's body was found by police on the floor in a bedroom after her mother dialled 999 on the morning of October 10 last year.

Jackson, who was in the same room attempting CPR, was found with "superficial" chest, neck and wrist injuries.

The court was told Jackson was angry and resentful towards Macey's father after the breakdown of their relationship.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Chambers said it was impossible to resolve whether the pictures and messages sent to Macey's father were references to a possible custody hearing or had a "more sinister" explanation.

Speaking outside court, Detective Inspector Dan Ison, of Staffordshire Police, said Macey had support from her father and the wider family, whose lives would now always be different.

The officer said: "We now know that the 999 call was a completely fraudulent call. There was clearly direction being given for CPR to be carried out on Macey and we know that she had been dead for some time by that point.

"It was a complete hoax, a sham as Judge Chambers referred to it. It goes to show the coldness of Cody-Anne's defence."

In a statement issued by Staffordshire Police, the senior detective added: "This was not a killing that occurred due to a struggling single parent, nor was it a killing where in some perverse way it was felt that Macey was being protected from someone or something.

"This was a killing that was cold and callous and set to exact revenge on Paul Hogan as he had broken off the relationship with Cody-Anne."