Burnley mum who stabbed newborn baby to death dies in Cheshire prison
32 year old Rachel Tunstill was serving a minimum 20 year sentence for the killing of Mia Kelly
A mother who stabbed her newborn baby to death with scissors has died in custody, the prison service confirmed.
Mental healthcare boss Rachel Tunstill killed Mia Kelly in the bathroom of her home in Burnley, Lancashire, in 2017, and then placed her body in plastic bags before dumping it in the kitchen bin.
A prison service spokesperson confirmed Tunstill, 32, died in HMP Styal in Cheshire on Tuesday.
They said: "HMP Styal prisoner Rachel Tunstill died in custody on 1 August 2023.
"As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate."
She was originally found guilty of murder and jailed for a minimum of 20 years following a trial at Preston Crown Court in June 2017.
But the conviction was quashed as Court of Appeal judge Lord Justice Treacy ruled that the jury in the case should have been offered a verdict of infanticide to consider.
A jury at Liverpool Crown Court found Tunstill guilty of murder following a retrial in 2019.
She was sentenced to life imprisonment and told to serve a minimum of 17 years.