An English mother has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 22 years for murdering her 14-month-old son by lacing his milk with prescription drugs. Emma Barnett, 36, of Debden, Essex (a town northeast of London), poisoned Oakley on 8 November 2024, hours after a family court ordered the toddler's removal from her care — hiding with him in her loft while police searched for them, and telling an officer "I killed him" shortly after midnight. The case drew attention to the extreme circumstances surrounding child removal proceedings, with the sentencing judge noting that Barnett appeared to have concluded that "if she could not have Oakley, no one else could."