The tragedy of Naomi Hill

How should society react to Joanne Hill, who is thought to have been experiencing mental health problems at the time when she took the life of her disabled daughter, Naomi? Katharine Quarmby reports on the case, asks a number of prominent disabled women to comment and includes a harrowing first-person account from a woman who killed her own child when she was experiencing mental health problems

When Joanne Hill, a mental health service-user, was found guilty of murdering her disabled daughter, four-year-old Naomi Hill, in September, it caused a slew of newspaper headlines in which Ms Hill, 32, was described as “demonic” and “crazed”. Her ex-husband dubbed her “evil”.

A jury decided, in just over an hour, that Hill, who has been in contact with mental health services since she was 17, had been “in control” of herself when she killed her daughter by holding her head under a bath of water in November, 2007. She then dressed her daughter, put her in the back seat of her car and drove around with her for eight hours before eventually taking her to the local hospital. She was found guilty of murder and jailed for at least 15 years.

Joanne Hill had mental health problems for almost half her life – even the prosecution, which argued she was sane when the killing occurred, agreed that was the case. The forensic psychiatrist called by the Crown as an expert witness said that she did not have a disorder at the time of the attack but did admit that she “certainly” seemed to be ill in court. She came to court from a secure hospital, rather than from prison. Aideen O’Halloran, a psychiatrist from the secure hospital, Broadmoor, appeared as a witness for the defence and said that Hill was “suffering an abnormality of mind” when she killed her daughter. Hill first saw a child psychiatrist for anxiety, when she was just 17. In 2000, she tried to kill herself twice. In January, 2003, she was diagnosed with chronic anxiety and had a “hypomanic” episode just a few months later.

Hill blamed herself for her daughter’s impairment, feeling responsible for her cerebral palsy.

She was said to be ashamed of Naomi’s condition and the fact that she had to use callipers, and dressed her in trousers so that they wouldn’t show. Hill had puerperal depression after Naomi was born (the most severe form of post-natal depression). She was treated in the community but had a relapse on Boxing Day, 2006, and left home to be looked after by her parents. She went back to work a few months later and in June last year her doctors decided that she no longer needed to be seen by the local mental health team. In August, her case was closed, although she remained on medication. In November, it was recorded that she was drinking and that this could increase the risk of her depression and encourage her to stop taking her medication. She killed her daughter just a few weeks later. She had previously begged her husband to have Naomi fostered or adopted.



Comment by an ex-prisoner and service-user of the charity Wish (who wants to remain anonymous)

I spent a long time in segregation when I was in prison, for my own protection and because I was self-harming very seriously. I was sent to prison for killing my child; I was mentally unwell at the time, but this wasn’t reported in the national newspapers. The prison officers are meant to censor the newspapers but they didn’t, so the other prisoners found out about what I’d done and were abusive towards me. I had hot oil thrown over me and was slashed with a razor blade.

Being in segregation was mentally and physically uncomfortable. I had very little social contact, and the only person who came into the cell was the governor, who would visit once a day. Everybody else I had to talk to through the hatch, and I wasn’t allowed to communicate with other prisoners in the segregation unit. I had no television and I wasn’t allowed a pen or a pencil, but I was given a newspaper to read. I had one hour’s exercise each day, but other prisoners could see me from their cells and would yell abuse at me; staff didn’t do anything to stop or discourage this.

I was put “in strips”, which meant I had to wear a dress made of thick material that wouldn’t rip. My underwear, hair bands and jewellery were taken away. I just wanted to sleep my time away, but the regime made that very difficult. The segregation unit always got their medication last in the evening, and we were woken up at 7am for breakfast and to clean our cells. Prison officers would laugh at me when I banged my head against the door in frustration; they didn’t treat me like I was a human being.

This is just my story, but unfortunately, this is the kind of treatment Joanne Hill might expect to receive in prison. No one ever takes the time to find out the reasons behind the crime.



Alice Maynard, chair of Scope

“We are saddened and appalled by this case. Naomi’s death is a tragedy.

“However, this case raises the wider issue of how many disabled parents still don’t get the support they need in bringing up children and how society continues to portray disability in a negative light, creating shame and stigma around impairment. This means that the parents of disabled children don’t get the advice that they need to understand and deal positively with their child’s impairment or condition.

“Tragically, in this instance, this combination of factors proved lethal.”



Ruth Bashall, co-chair, Metropolitan Police Service disability independent advisory group

Joanna and Naomi Hill were both disabled and both female. They lived in a world that cares little for us as women and as disabled people. Mothers are expected to “get on with it” no matter what, and still bear the overwhelming responsibility for children, often alone and unsupported, even by their partners. More children are murdered by their father seeking revenge on the mother who is no longer willing to be his property – yet this is seen as tragedy, not murder. Society exercises double standards – we think in terms of bad mothers and good mothers, not mothers who need support. Asking for help carries a stigma in itself.

As a mother, Joanna Hill was left to “get on with it”, with fatal results. As a disabled mother, she was horrified by her child’s impairments. Naomi Hill is not the first disabled child or adult to be hated, abused or killed because of her impairment, and will not be the last, not unless we fundamentally change the way that society sees disabled people – and sees children not just as the mother’s responsibility but as our collective responsibility.



Rachel Hurst, director of Disability Awareness in Action

It is a tragedy that Joanna Hill should be so deeply rooted in the prejudicial attitudes that are so frequently held against disabled people and so repulsed by signs of impairment that they should be extended to her own daughter. Her own mental ill-health did not allow her maternal love to overcome that repulsion – another tragedy.

It is a tragedy that the authorities did not recognise that disabled children whose parents do not want them should go on the at risk register.

It is justice, that the killing of this lovely child was judged to be murder and sentenced accordingly. We have had far too many similar cases of the murder of disabled family members where the sentence has been suspended.



Emma Bowler, disabled parent and writer

When I read this story I thought it was incredibly sad. There’s no denying that being a parent is stressful and having a disabled child can bring additional stress. In this case, it appears the strain reached an intolerable level.

But it’s a complicated case as it’s probably impossible to disentangle the mother’s mental health issues from the issues around the fact that her daughter was disabled. Unfortunately, the lesser informed public reaction is probably to ask what someone with a mental health problem was doing with a child, and that the child, being disabled, probably had a rubbish life anyway… ignorance fuelled by poor representation of mental health and disability generally in the media.



Katie Caryer, disability rights activist

When I was a baby (with cerebral palsy) who did not sleep and who cried 24/7, after a rare night of sleep, my mother on seeing me asleep in the cot thought for one fleeting moment,

“Well, if she’s dead, at least I’ll get some sleep.” As awful as it seems, I do understand what had driven my mother to think that. My mother’s mental health is fairly robust, but she tells me that for a new mother of a disabled child, help, both emotional and practical, is virtually non-existent.

It is known Mrs Hill herself had impairments by the way of mental health problems and was drinking heavily. This will not take away the tragedy of a little girl losing her life, but I do feel Joanne Hill, like my mother and so many parents of disabled children, is the victim of a lack of support and services.

It appears she was ashamed of her daughter because she had cerebral palsy. This is not a rare thing. Even today, doctors are advocating the termination of “disabled” pregnancies. Parents are said to go through a “grieving process” on the birth of a disabled child (although luckily my mum says this is “bo…ks”). In the media, we are still inappropriately portrayed and we are still legitimate targets for high profile non-disabled comedians who wouldn’t dream of making a racist joke. So it is no wonder some parents still believe their child is not as valuable or valued as a non-disabled child.

So I believe the guilty party in this case is society itself for not supporting the vulnerable and devaluing disabled people.



Group perspective from women with mental health conditions who have been in prison – with thanks to the charity, Wish

Everything takes a long time in prison and any woman with mental health needs might have to wait to be assessed and then wait several months for therapy. There can be long waiting-lists in prison, especially for women who need counselling. Some prisons provide a decent mental health service, so she may get psychology sessions or art therapy if it’s available, but in other prisons there is very little.

Joanne will probably get quite a hard time in prison because her offence was against a child, so she’s likely to end up in segregation for her own safety.

Some prisons don’t even have a healthcare unit or an onsite psychiatric team.



Anne Novis, co-chair, Metropolitan Police Service disability independent advisory group

I think the judge was right in the sentencing – so often we do not get the judicial response to such matters, which I believe we should. This child had minor impairments, a supportive father and the murder was planned and executed in a despicable way. There was no excuse for this woman’s actions. She hated her child because she was different. Ms Hill needs help but a life of high value was lost.



Zara Todd, member, Equality 2025

This unfortunate case highlights to me how much further the perception of disability needs to come; no parent or disabled child should feel that the only way of coping is to end a life.

This case suggests that families need more support in getting to grips with having a disability.

The case also shows how influential society’s attitude can be; the stigma surrounding disability and giving birth to a disabled child needs to change so no-one should feel ashamed.



Simone Aspis, disability rights activist

It was the right decision for a deliberate attempt to take away Naomi’s (a disabled child's) life to be considered as murder and nothing other and that an appropriate sentence has been handed down. For too long, courts have shied away from giving a verdict of murder when disabled children have been deliberately killed. However, the lack of social and childcare support must have impacted upon Joanne’s life and her mental health condition.



The Ministry of Justice said that it was unable to comment on individual prisoners