A woman told police how she heard voices telling her that she was a bad mum and did not deserve her baby – before she went on to suffocate him.

Hannah Turtle, 22, from Shotton, accepts that she stopped him breathing on three occasions within a ten day period.

It was the third episode which led to his death.

She also admitted that she had placed her own anti-depressant drug in his milk bottle on one occasion.

But Turtle denies murder and says she did not intend to kill seven-week-old James or to cause him really serious harm.

Prosecuting barrister David Elias, QC, said the defendant on three separate occasions deliberately harmed her son by restricting his breathing.

He died after the third occasion from suffocation.

Mr Elias said that she was careful to ensure that no one witnessed what she did.

“We may never know why exactly she did this,” said Mr Elias.

“The prosecution say that she knew what she was doing and she knew the serious harm she was causing her young son.”

He said that on May 31, 2016, she deliberately pinched his nose so that he was unable to breathe and he turned blue.

Paramedics were called, he received hospital treatment and he was discharged back to his family, apparently in good health.

But the following day, on June 3, when alone with her son, she deliberately suffocated him again when he became floppy.

He was resuscitated, he suffered a fit on the way to hospital, and doctors could find no medical reason for his condition.

James returned home on June 6 but three days later the prosecution say she murdered him.

Me Elias said that she put her hand over nose and mouth and stopped him breathing despite the fact that he was struggling against her.

He was flailing his arms about and it went on for between five to ten minutes, he said.

She sat with his life-less body for several minutes, went to check on her mother in law, went to the toilet and on her return to her room, pretended that she had just found him.

Unfortunately James did not recover from the last episode, he suffered brain damage from a devastating lack of oxygen and blood, and died in hospital on June 13 at 58 days old.

“The prosecution say that he was killed by his mother,” the prosecutor said.

Turtle initially denied being responsible but then told a social worker and repeated it to a nurse that she had killed him.

She said she needed help and had heard voices telling her that she did not deserve James.

“I wish I had never done it.

“I know I need help,” she said.

The jury was told that when refused permission to go to the funeral she made false allegations against her partner Ian Hughes.

But in a later letter to the police she admitted that she was responsible.

Turtle denies murder, three charges of ill-treatment and two of administering poison.

The jury was told that it could hear evidence about her psychiatric condition.

The child was taken to hospital from the family home in Ryeland Street, Shotton, on June 9, 2016. He died on 13 June.

He was initially treated at the Countess of Chester Hospital and was then transferred to Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital where he died.

The trial is expected to last up to three weeks.

Proceeding.