A mother has been sentenced to seven years in prison for manslaughter after her seven-month-old son, Charlie Goodall, drowned in a bathtub while she was allegedly playing games on her phone.
The tragic incident occurred in February 2022 when 31-year-old Danielle Massey left Charlie unattended in the bath. He fell from a newly fitted bath seat and drowned. Massey claimed she had left him briefly to fetch a towel, but prosecutors argued she ignored him for up to 26 minutes, during which she was playing games on her phone and possibly fell asleep.
Emergency services were called after Massey found Charlie unresponsive. He was airlifted from West Chilton Terrace, County Durham, to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, but he did not survive.
During her arrest, Massey reportedly admitted responsibility, telling a police officer, “It’s all my fault. I killed my baby.”
At Teesside Crown Court, Mr. Justice Goss criticized Massey for giving “changing, inconsistent, and implausible accounts” of the events, concluding that she had failed to properly supervise Charlie while engaging in activities on her phone. The judge rejected Massey’s claim that she was exhausted and momentarily closed her eyes, stating that she was “active and awake” during the incident.
Massey had already pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of cannabis but contested the basis of her guilty plea, arguing that her negligence was limited to using an unsuitable bath seat.
Prosecutor Richard Wright KC maintained that Massey left her son unattended for an extended period, during which he fell from the unsafe bath seat and drowned—a tragedy that could have been prevented with proper supervision. Phone records presented in court showed Massey had accessed three apps, including Cooking Madness, for 26 minutes during the time Charlie was in the bath.
Massey’s defense argued that she was not using her phone at the time and was instead focused on bathing her son. However, inconsistencies in her statements, including telling paramedics she had left the bathroom to prepare a bottle rather than fetch a towel, undermined her credibility.
Charlie’s father, William Goodall, recounted receiving a call from Massey and arriving at her home to find paramedics attempting to save their son.
In her testimony, Massey claimed she had gone upstairs to find a towel and later sat on the sofa to catch her breath due to asthma, possibly falling asleep. When she returned to the bathroom, she found Charlie unresponsive and attempted CPR until medics arrived.
Despite her claims, the court found her actions amounted to gross negligence, leading to the preventable death of her son.
