A 20-year-old British mother appeared in a Greek court today accused of strangling her newly born baby to death shortly after giving birth to him while she was alone in her hotel room in Crete.

Leah Andrew left her two other children at home in London to go on holiday with her sister and a friend on a package trip to Malia last week.

Today, the student from Hither Green in south east London appeared before a magistrate in Heraklion, the island’s capital, charged with infanticide.

Her sister and friend called the police after discovering Ms Andrew covered in blood in their shared hotel room in the early hours on Monday morning.

Officers say they found the dead baby, weighing 5lb 8oz, with sheets wrapped around his neck and covering his face in a room in the Natali hotel.

A coroner determined that the boy was born healthy and had been smothered, dying of asphyxiation.

The Crete prosecutor’s office said the magistrate would decide later today whether she would be held in prison or released on bail before her eventual trial.

Infanticide does not carry a life sentence in Greece, unlike murder.

On Sunday, Ms Andrew was on a night out with her 24-year-old sister, Lydia, and a friend.

It is understood she had not told them she was pregnant, despite being just two weeks short of her due date.

According to the police, she claimed that she was feeling unwell and returned to the hotel room that all three were sharing, before giving birth alone in the room.

It is believed that Ms Andrew has two sons, aged three and 15 months, who are being looked after by her parents.

A Lewisham council spokeswoman said: “This is a very tragic situation and our thoughts are with the family.

“We will be supporting the family and working with them to ensure the safety and well-being of Miss Andrew’s two other children.”

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