Father wants “professional help” for Laura Fletcher who drowned daughter

Sep 16 2009 by Luke Traynor, Birkenhead News

Chloe Fletcher 250

THE father of a Wirral woman who drowned her four-year-old daughter in the bath has said she needs professional help.

Laura Fletcher pleaded guilty on Friday to the manslaughter of little Chloe at their Wallasey home on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Liverpool Crown Court heard the 22-year-old was “suffering from serious mental illness” when she killed the youngster.

When police arrived at the house in Oakdale Avenue, they found Chloe fully dressed and wearing a dressing gown, laid out on her mother’s bed with a soft toy at her side.

After the hearing, the defendant’s father, Andrew Fletcher, said: “I thought her guilty plea was correct.

“It is very sad and very upsetting. I just cannot explain how it happened.

“I was not in touch with Laura and I had never met my granddaughter Chloe.

“I do not think a prison sentence would be right for her. She needs treatment.

“Laura did not know what she was doing. Now she cannot remember what happened.

“I now talk to her twice a week at the Scott Clinic and she seems a bit better.

“Sometimes she is up, other times she is down.

“We just need to try and get on with the rest of our lives now.”