last updated: Friday 25 July 2008, 06:11am

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Mum held in custody over baby killing

Leah Andrew

A British mother accused of strangling her newborn son is to be held in custody pending her trial.

Leah Andrew, from Hither Green, south east London, appeared before a magistrate in Heraklion, the island's capital, charged with infanticide.

She was charged with killing her baby after giving birth in a hotel room on the Mediterranean island of Crete earlier this week by prosecutors.

Andrew was ordered to testify in court on Thursday after spending the previous days in a hospital in the Cretan capital Heraklion, where she was being treated for severe blood loss after giving birth unassisted early on Monday.

'The judge ordered that she be held pending completion of the trial,' lawyer Zoe Lama said. 'She then fainted and was taken to hospital for treatment.'

Under Greek law she could face a maximum sentence of life in prison for premeditated murder if convicted.

Two other British women who were sharing the hotel room in the popular tourist resort of Malia will not be charged in connection with the case. Police have said they were her sister and a friend.

Police found the dead baby, weighing 5lb 8oz, in a room in the Natali hotel, Malia, in the early hours of Monday.

A coroner said the baby which was discovered wrapped in sheets showed signs of suffocation.

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