'I just want my baby': British holiday mother accused of killing newborn does not realise he is dead, say doctors

A British woman accused of killing her newborn baby during a holiday in Crete is on suicide watch in an island hospital.

As family and friends of Leah Andrew, 20, spoke of their shock and disbelief about the tragedy, hospital staff said she repeatedly told them: 'I just want my baby.'

A doctor said she was 'distressed and depressed', and that he was not sure if she realised the baby was dead.

Greek police say Miss Andrew, who has two children aged two and one, suffocated the baby boy in a hotel room and will face a murder charge. If found guilty she could spend up to 20 years in prison.

Her father, Isaac Andrew, 54, a council worker who lives with her mother, Pamela, in Hither Green, South-East London, spoke of his shock that his daughter had hidden her pregnancy from them.

'None of us had any idea my daughter was having a child. That was a shock in itself,' he said.

'I really can't imagine she would have done something like this but we will have to wait.'

It is thought her other children were being cared for by her parents.

Miss Andrew was arrested on Monday after police found the body of her 5lb 8oz baby in her apartment in Malia, where she was on holiday with friends and her 24-year-old sister Lydia.

Holiday flat: The room where the newborn baby boy was found dead at the Natali hotel in Malia

Grim: A dirty bed in the room where the birth is thought to have taken place

Tragedy: The Crete apartment where Leah Andrew allegedly strangled her newborn baby boy

She is accused of suffocating the infant immediately after giving birth, before attempting to conceal his body in a towel.

Police said she had claimed he was stillborn after she went into labour alone following a drinking session with seven friends.

Detectives believe Miss Andrew went out with her sister and friends, Sherene Olusesi, Krystal Donaldson and Leanne Archer-Brown on Sunday night. She returned alone to their room at the Natali Hotel in the early hours complaining of feeling unwell.

Hours later her sister and Miss Olusesi returned to the room all three were sharing to find her bleeding heavily.

Police said Miss Andrew was eight-and-a half months pregnant.

She kept it secret from family and friends until just days before the birth.

Leah Andrews (circled) with friends she went on holiday with to Crete

A Greek police source said: 'Her friends only discovered that she was pregnant during the holiday when she was seen wearing a bikini and she could no longer hide her tummy. She has not told her friends or her sister why she did what she allegedly did or why she hid the pregnancy.

'Her sister still believes that the baby was stillborn but the coroner's report indicates that the child died of asphyxiation.'

Dr Christos Melas, director of the at the Iraklio University State Hospital, where Miss Andrew is under armed guard, has told how she has begged to hold her son.

Dr Melas said: 'She keeps asking to see the baby. She has asked doctors three or four times. That's all she wants. We ask her what she wants and all she says is "I just want my baby".

'She seems very confused and is in a state of shock. I am not sure whether she knows that the baby is dead or not.

'She is very distressed and depressed. There are concerns that she may harm herself so she is being watched constantly.'

Police are yet to question Miss Andrew who will be released from hospital when she is judged mentally stable.

She is then expected to appear before the prosecutor in Heraklion to face the murder charge.