What made a contented center class lady, who longed for nothing greater than a child, kill the kid she adored? Friends reveal devastating backstory of Alice Mackey who drowned her beloved daughter in a match of psychosis

Glass in hand, and a broad smile, the pretty brunette looks to be life and soul of the party.

But the Alice Mackey seen in these exclusive photographs – sailing a yacht, on her hen night, japing around with friends, and filled with joy on her wedding day – is far from the diminished figure seen in court earlier this week, when she was sentenced to four years in prison for killing her two-year old daughter, Annabel.

There, she pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility after never recovering from post-partem depression, which developed into psychosis.

After the 42 year old stopped taking her medication, she drowned her toddler in a pond at a local beauty spot not far from the family home in the Hampshire village of Bordon.

At first, Mackey, a former teacher, claimed Annabel had been drowned by a stranger who took her from the family home.

Her husband, Peter, 45, a director for an IT consultancy company, only discovered what his wife had done when she admitted killing her daughter at a plea hearing earlier this year.

It seemed an almost inconceivable denouement for the couple who had heartbreakingly battled for years to have children.

Now, though, friends who knew Mackey in her late teens and early twenties, have told the Mail that she had struggled with her mental health for decades.

Expressing shock at what had happened to their former friend – as well as intense sympathy for Mackey’s family – they also admitted that she had long been known as having periods of instability and depression.

Those who socialised with her while she studied at Oxford Brookes University before becoming a teaching assistant at the school where Annabel went to nursery, described her as ‘manic-depressive’, a party girl whose mood was constantly fluctuating.

One friend told the Daily Mail: ‘She definitely had issues when she was in her early twenties. She was very manic-depressive.

‘She would be on these massive highs then lows and this was definitely something everyone noticed.

‘My group of friends really noticed that she could be really happy in one moment and then really depressed the next. Sometimes she would be walking around in tears.’

They added: ‘Our friends are all shocked. The sentencing itself is shocking. It is very scary.’

The tragic crime, which took place in September 2023, is even more upsetting because little Annabel had been so wanted by her parents.

A miracle baby, Annabel was born against the odds after her mother underwent rounds of gruelling IVF procedures, as well as heartbreaking miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy during a five-year period before she finally became pregnant.

The court was told the couple had ‘longed to have children’.

Indeed, Mackey was once said to have had ‘a natural affinity to children’ and was often praised for her ‘good rapport’ with youngsters who she worked with, first as a teacher and then as a teaching assistant.

But her defence told the court that while she ‘couldn’t have loved anyone more than Annabel’ instead of the ‘warm bliss of happiness’ she expected of motherhood, she described feeling as if she had been ‘plunged into darkness’.

Just five months after Annabel was born in January 2021, her mother was detained under the Mental Health Act and taken to a psychiatric hospital for new mothers and their babies.

After a three month hospital stay, Mackey finally returned home under the care of community mental health workers with prescriptions for anti-depressants and anti-psychotics.

But her husband said she seemed like a different person. Peter told the court: ‘Alice eventually returned home but she was never the same Alice that she was before, she seemed more distant.’

Her own mother, who had previously been a health worker, noticed she began to seem ‘distant from Annabel’.

Despite this, Mackey continued to care for her daughter, even feeling well enough, with the consent of her doctors, to stop taking anti-depressants.

Yet in the weeks ahead of Annabel’s death, Mackey’s mental health severely declined cumulating in a severe mental breakdown on September 10 2023.

And that day, Mackey did the unthinkable.

In a ‘deluded state’ – believing Annabel was better off dead than living under a ‘bad mother’ – Mackey took her toddler from their home to the neighbouring village of Kingsley where she drowned her.

She then rang 999 and lied, saying someone had entered their family home and ‘taken’ Annabel.

Mackey claimed she put Annabel down for a nap at 3.45pm before going downstairs to watch television – leaving the front door open because of the warm weather.

Then, she said, when she went to check on the toddler an hour later, Annabel was missing from her room.

Mackey then called the police telling them she had found Annabel in the pond while on the phone to them.

When officers arrived in the area at 5.15pm they found Mackey ‘calling for help’ and ‘kneeling over Annabel’.

Describing body worn footage recorded by attending officers, Judge Saini KC said Mackey appeared to have a ‘strange detachment’ at the time, with ‘a blank lack of emotion, and confusion being plain’.

CPR was attempted at the scene and the toddler was taken to Southampton Children’s Hospital, but medics were unable to save her. She was put on a life support machine which was switched off on September 11.

A postmortem examination later revealed the toddler had died as a result of brain damage and bronchopneumonia.

Little wonder, then, that her father today is grieving all the milestones his daughter will never reach – from the first day of school to her wedding.

In a deeply emotive statement, Peter Mackey told the court: ‘I am deeply traumatised by the thought of how my daughter was killed. I am tormented by imagining how frightened she must have been, the pain she endured and the distress she suffered.

‘The knowledge of this overwhelms me with both profound sadness and anger. I feel constant guilt that I was not home to protect her on the day she died.

‘Annabel lived in a safe, comfortable house with her own playroom for reading and playing. She also had the support of many relatives to ensure she developed into a great person.’

He added: ‘I grieve for the loss of Annabel’s life and all the milestones she will never reach, her first day at school, sports days, hobbies, falling in love, marriage, and having her own children. These moments have been stolen from her, and from me.

‘Annabel was my little friend. We had a very special bond. She was only two and a half, yet she had so much empathy. She was so caring, happy, and positive.’

Other statements from the family were read out in court, including from Mr Mackey’s sister, Jennifer, who said: ‘Whatever is good in my life will always be tainted by her loss. This grief is not something I can walk through or leave behind; it will always be in front of me, preventing me, and behind me, dragging me back at every moment.

‘My hope is that she knows the pain and the tears I carry, are because of my love for her, and that this was never what any of us wanted.’

Her paternal grandmother Pammie said: ‘the realisation of all the things we will never share is devastating for me’.

She added: ‘I trusted the person who was supposed to be caring for her, and that trust was destroyed. As a family we have drawn closer together, but I feel such deep sorrow for my son, who has lost his daughter, and for my daughter, who adored her niece.’

Following the sentencing, Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Howard Broadribb said: ‘This is a tragic case that has seen a much-loved daughter, niece and granddaughter lose her life and has had a significant impact on the family itself.

‘Nobody, let alone a child, should face danger from those closest to them. I’m pleased that we have secured justice for Annabel and her father, aunt, and grandparents.’

But as her paternal grandfather Keith – who recalled his fondest memories of the little girl, remembering how she appeared in the doorway and asked him: ‘Do you want a cuddle?’ – describes, nothing will alleviate the family’s grief.

He said: ‘Her life was stolen from her. Her death has caused a profound and lasting impact on me and on my family. She is missed, and she will be missed forever.’