Woman jailed for abducting baby

A WOMAN who duped her way into a young mother's home then knocked her unconscious with a hammer before snatching her four-month-old baby daughter was yesterday jailed for three and a half years.

A judge at Wolverhampton Crown Court described the actions of Diane Dovey, of Willenhall, West Midlands, as "wicked and pre-meditated".

The court was told how Dovey, 24, had attacked the mother last December after claiming she had some baby equipment to sell her last. She was arrested several hours later with the baby.

Peter Arnold, prosecuting, said that when she arrived at her former lover's home with the baby wrapped in blankets she said: "Here is your son."

The court was told how the defendant lived in a fantasy world and believed that she had been pregnant.

Dovey was sentenced to a total of 18-months imprisonment for wounding and the baby abduction. She was jailed for a further two years for a separate robbery, to be served consecutively.