Deeply religious pensioner hid stillborn babies in wardrobe for 50 years

A woman who gave birth to two stillborn children hid their bodies in a suitcase in a wardrobe for more than 50 years.

Margaret Guarino, who was not married, was too ashamed to tell anyone about the babies.

But after her death, relatives discovered their bodies  -  and a police investigation was launched to establish whether the children had been murdered.

Mrs Guarino died in 2006, aged 74. Her daughter Lucia Grime, 45, continued living at the council-owned maisonette in Audenshaw, Manchester, with her son James.

But the family were so upset by Mrs Guarino's death that they did not clean out her room until 2008.

Mr Grime, 23, said: 'For two years after my grandmother died, my mum slept on the settee because she couldn't bear to go upstairs near her room.

'One day, we decided to clean it out and decorate. All of a sudden, my mum said, "What's this?", and I went over to have a look. She was holding a case that was in a black bag. It just looked like a pile of ash.'

They spent three days wondering what to do  -  then finally called police.

'Then the circus began,' he said. 'People jumped to conclusions far too easily. They were making her out to be some kind of Harold Shipman.

'That wasn't her  -  she was no baby killer.'

The children's remains were wrapped in a towel and a coat  -  one in a blue toy box and the other in a pink doll's box.

Police discovered a cutting from a 1956 newspaper alongside the bodies. And last night it emerged that the babies had been stillborn.

Mrs Guarino had first married in 1948 but divorced after two years. In 1958, she met Tony Guarino who was to become her second husband.

But it appears that in 1956, before she met him, she had the stillborn children.

Mrs Guarino's grandson said: ' Obviously she met somebody in the mid-Fifties and these stillborn babies were the result of that.

'I feel sorry that she had no one to turn to at the time and felt this was the only course of action available to her.

'It is desperately sad but it is a sign of the times she lived in and the high moral values people lived by.

'Despite what happened, she was quite a religious lady and this would have been at odds with the way she lived her life.

'My grandmother was a real pillar of the community. She was morally upright and very sensible.

'It must have been a terrible secret to have to keep all these years, only for it to be finally discovered like this.

'I think she didn't know what to do. This was probably taboo then. There are so many questions that will never be answered. I'm just upset she was never able to tell anyone.

'We were never able to hug and comfort her. She was such a nice woman. She probably didn't want to burden anyone else and just kept it a secret.'

Mrs Guarino's husband was a self-employed businessman, from Tameside, Greater Manchester.

The couple set up home together and began raising a family. Although they did not marry until 1981, they had six daughters and two sons  -  Susan, Judith, Michael, Natalizia, Maria, Francesca, Lucia and in 1966, Anthony.

Mr Grime added: 'I didn't know my grandfather, Tony, because he died the year before I was born and I never got to meet him.

'It doesn't make a difference to how we think of her in our family because she will always remain the loveable grandmother we remember.'

Greater Manchester Police are carrying out DNA tests on the bodies to confirm their theory that the babies did belong to Mrs Guarino.