A woman and her boyfriend have been given community orders after prosecutors accepted she did not illegally abort her baby.

Warning: This article contains distressing content.

Sophie Harvey, 25, was due to stand trial with Elliot Benham in February on charges she took abortion pills online a month after the 24-week cut-off when she was 19.

The couple had accepted they bought the medication, but Harvey insisted she did not take them and gave birth to a stillborn baby in her bathroom in September 2018.

Harvey had previously described to Gloucester Crown Court how she was confused after going into labour and wrapped the baby in a towel before placing it into a bin.

At a further hearing on Wednesday, they both admitted to a new charge of conspiracy to procure a poison with intent to procure a miscarriage.

Harvey, of St Mary’s Road, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, and Benham, of Wingfield, Swindon, Wiltshire, had already accepted a charge of concealing the birth of a child.

But on Wednesday, the Crown Prosecution Service said it decided not to pursue other charges following “careful reflection”.

These included procuring a poison, procuring a miscarriage by poison and perverting the course of justice – which they denied and were ordered to lie on file.

“We recognise the profoundly painful circumstances surrounding this case, which our prosecutors have approached with sensitivity and care,” a spokesperson said.

“The defendants have pleaded guilty to two offences, and after careful reflection we have concluded that it is not in the public interest to pursue further charges.”

‘Absence of compassion’

The couple had stood trial at the court in May this year, but the jury was discharged after an application by their lawyers citing inaccurate reports of the proceedings by the BBC.

Prosecutors had sought a new trial and a date had been fixed for February next year.

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Passing sentence, Judge Ian Lawrie KC, the Recorder of Gloucester, handed the pair a 18-month community order.

Harvey was also given a mental health treatment requirement, while Benham was told to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and both must pay a £114 surcharge.

“The loss of that life was a tragedy, and that small child was treated by being wrapped in a towel and placed in a bin,” the judge said, describing an “absence of compassion and humanity”.

“The impact upon your lives has been traumatic and I am sure this will continue for some time. If you can, and I doubt it, put it all behind you and get on with your lives.”

The Met Office has released its forecast for Christmas Day, and it says there will be no white Christmas this year.

The nation’s weather service says that pressure will build as the festive day approaches and on 25 December there are likely to be settled conditions, mild in many places.

The Met Office’s Dan Harris said: “Christmas Day itself is likely to be settled, often cloudy, and dry with light winds for the majority.

“Once again, the far north may be windier, with a small chance of further rain across northwest Scotland.

“Temperatures are expected to be widely mild, so if you are hoping for a blanket of snow across the country on Christmas Day, I’m sorry to say you will be disappointed.”

But they said it is still too early to be certain, and that they will provide updates in the coming days.

Get the forecast for your area

For the Met Office to declare a white Christmas, a single snowflake must be observed falling in the 24 hours of Christmas Day by either an official Met Office observer or a Met Office automated weather station.

While 2023 was technically a white Christmas, with 11% of weather stations recording snowfall, the last widespread one with snow settling on the ground was more than ten years ago.

The UK has only seen widespread snow coverage on Christmas four times since 1960 – in 1981, 1995, 2009 and 2010.

Yellow wind warning before Christmas

Before then, however, some parts of the UK are set to be hit by high winds with the Met Office issuing yellow weather warnings.

It says that in parts of Scotland, very strong westerly winds are expected on Saturday in association with a deep area of low pressure.

Gusts are expected to reach 65-75mph in the Western Isles and Orkney and there is a small chance some will reach 80mph.

One warning also covers the west coast of Scotland and the north coast of Northern Ireland. In these areas, gusts between 50-60mph could develop widely.

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The Met Office said the conditions have “the potential to cause delays to public transport and some disruption to the road network, which may have a greater than usual impact given the busier pre-Christmas weekend travel”.

Almost 60,000 homes across Hampshire are without water because of a “technical issue” at a Southern Water supply works, the company has said.

Homes in Southampton, Romsey, Eastleigh, Totton, and parts of the New Forest have been affected by problems at the Testwood water supply works preventing water from leaving the site.

Southern Water apologised and said it was working hard to restore supplies, but warned the issue might continue until the weekend.

Long queues have been reported at bottle stations which have been set up at the Places Leisure Centre in Eastleigh, Sainsbury’s superstore in Southampton and Asda superstore in Totton.

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Southern Water said they are continuing to deliver water supplies to customers registered on their priority list and estimate that around 58,000 homes have been affected.

It said they have supplied dedicated tankers to Southampton General Hospital and Princess Anne Hospital.

The company’s website said it hopes supply will be restored throughout Thursday, but said the issue may not be fully resolved until the weekend.

“We are working towards all customers being back in supply by the weekend,” it said.