Mother 'who killed her baby'

Leah Andrew, 20, is accused of killing the 5lb 8oz baby minutes after giving birth. The body was then wrapped in a towel.

The single mother, who has two other young sons, faces 20 years in jail if convicted.

Miss Andrew, a student from Hither Green, was on holiday with her sister Lydia, 24, and a group of friends. Greek police said she was eight and a half months pregnant but kept it secret from her family and friends.

It is believed Miss Andrew went out with her sister and a friend on Sunday night before returning to their room at the Natali Hotel in the early hours complaining of feeling unwell.

She then gave birth before the others returned to find her bleeding heavily. Police said Miss Andrew was being kept under guard in Iraklio University state hospital, where she was being treated for blood loss.

They said she was expected to go before the prosecutor in Heraklion to face the murder charge, which she denies, tomorrow.

Her father Isaac, 54, a council refuse collector and former mechanic, said today: "None of us had any idea my daughter was having a child. That was a shock in itself." He told the Daily Express: "I really can't imagine she would have done something like this, but we will have to wait."

It is believed Miss Andrew's other sons, aged two and one, are being cared for by her parents.

Miss Andrew, with her sister and friends Sherene Olusesi, Krystal Donaldson, and Leanne Archer-Brown, are believed to have flown out on a "girls" holiday to the resort of Malia last week.

They made changes to their status section on Facebook on Saturday confirming their arrival, with Ms Archer-Brown saying: "Leanne Archer- Brown is in MALIA baby!!!!" Miss Archer-Brown, 21, from Catford, a former criminology student, was pictured with her friends on the internet site. Other photographs, including that of Miss Andrew's other sister Alicia, show girls on various nights out, including celebrating Leah's 20th birthday.

A receptionist at the hotel spoke of the "utter panic" after Miss Andrew's sister Lydia returned to the room, adding: "She rushed down here screaming. She was in a state of complete shock." Miss Andrew is believed to have told police the baby was stillborn and she wrapped him in sheets and towels because he was cold.

But Crete's chief medical coroner, professor Manolis Michaelodimitrakis, said the post mortem examination he performed proved the child was born healthy but had been suffocated. He said "air was found in the boy's lungs and stomach but he had definitely been smothered".