Woman accused of having illegal abortion found not guilty
A woman has been found not guilty of having an illegal abortion during the second coronavirus lockdown.
Nicola Packer, 45, cried and wiped her eyes with a tissue after she was acquitted by a jury at Isleworth Crown Court in south-west London, of 'unlawfully administering to herself a poison or other noxious thing' with the 'intent to procure a miscarriage'.
The trial heard she took abortion medicine at home in November 2020 and later brought the foetus to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in a backpack.
Ms Packer, then 41 , took prescribed medications mifepristone and misoprostol, when she was around 26 weeks pregnant, jurors were told.
The legal limit for taking medication at home for an abortion is 10 weeks.
Prosecutors alleged that Ms Packer knew she had been pregnant for more than 10 weeks, which she denied.
Jurors rejected the prosecution's case to find the 45-year-old not guilty of having an illegal abortion.
Ms Packer was supported by five people in the public gallery, with some hugging each other after the verdict was read to the court.
Giving evidence during her trial, Ms Packer spoke of her 'shock' and 'surprise' at being pregnant.
Ms Packer later broke down in tears as she told the jury of nine women and three men: 'If I had known I was that far along I wouldn't have done it.'
She added: 'I wouldn't have put the baby or myself through it.'
The typical full gestation term is 40 weeks and the outer limit for abortions in the UK is normally 24 weeks, though there are grounds where there are no limits.
Ms Packer did not discover she was pregnant until she took a test on November 2, 2020, the court heard.
She took abortion medication on November 6 and went to hospital the following day, having passed a foetus into the toilet, her trial was told.
Jurors heard Ms Packer spent the night of November 7 in hospital and was arrested by police the next day.
Ms Packer, who sat near her defence team throughout the trial, was supported by five friends in the public gallery, who hugged as the verdict was delivered.
Jurors deliberated for more than six hours to reach the unanimous verdict.
After the verdict was delivered, Judge Martin Edmunds KC thanked jurors for their attention in the case and said Ms Packer was formally discharged.
'This was an old case, relating to events during 2020, in the Covid pandemic,' Judge Edmunds said.
'It is the prosecution, the CPS who make decisions about whether to pursue criminal cases.
'They do so through guidelines which they have to apply… one of which is the public interest.'
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