Melanie Ruddell was a loving and doting mother who worshipped her two-year-old son, Christy.

The day before she killed him, witnesses saw the pair playing football on a recreation field in Peterlee, County Durham.

As mother and son laughed during the kickabout, it seemed like they did not have a care in the world.

But this outwardly idyllic picture could not have been further from the truth. In her mind, Melanie Ruddell was a seething mass of neurosis and paranoia – suffering from a mental illness that was about to end in the most tragic way.

The demons that drove her to spend every waking moment with Christy – she even had difficulty leaving him with babysitters – were filling her mind with dark thoughts.

Twenty-four hours later, she walked into the police station in Peterlee, with her son’s lifeless body in her arms. She had strangled him.

Newcastle Crown Court was told that Ruddell had suffered a catastrophic mental breakdown, which led to delusions that she needed to protect him from dangers which terrified her.

The 39-year-old’s life began unravelling following a split from her husband, Alan, six months earlier.

The couple had been together for two years since marrying at Hardwick Hall, in Sedgefield.

They moved into a house in Dene View, Castle Eden, near Peterlee. Her neighbours described her as a bubbly person.

The couple were overjoyed when they had a baby and named their son Christy, after Irish folk singer Christy Moore.

Mr Ruddell, a music fan who used to sing and play guitar at the village pub, wrote a message on the singer’s website telling him they had named their son after him.

The singer replied, sending his best wishes.

However, things started to turn sour when both husband and wife lost their jobs. Although they both found alternative work – Mrs Ruddell, who was a welder, found a job selling stationery – they separated.

For support, Ruddell turned to her family – her father, John Close, brothers John and Neil, and sister Julie Stout.

The crown court was told her mental breakdown was witnessed by her family and friends over the weekend starting Friday, August 6, last year.

They made numerous, desperate and frantic efforts to obtain medical attention for her.

She was staying with her war-hero brother, Corporal Neil Close, in Station Road, West Rainton, near Durham City, at the time.

Ruddell called police with a serious allegation on the Saturday.

For legal reasons, the nature of the allegation cannot be reported – but her claim was deemed to be a fantasy.

On the Sunday, family and friends took her to the University Hospital of Hartlepool.

Ruddell refused to stay for the two-hour wait before she could undergo psychiatric assessment from the crisis team, who were busy with another urgent case, because “she was consumed by a desire to be with her son”.

Between 7.30am and 8am on Monday, August 9, Ruddell went to Peterlee police station with Christy’s lifeless body in her arms.

She was met by a civilian worker, who alerted a police officer, who believed the child was asleep over her shoulder – before Ruddell revealed he was, in fact, dead.

She had injuries to her wrists, which were selfinflicted.

Christy was taken to nearby Sunderland Royal Hospital, but he was pronounced dead.

It was confirmed he had died as a result of being strangled and had also suffered a single stab wound.

It is believed he had been dead for some time before his mother took him to the police station.

Detective Superintendent Adrian Green said: “This was a tragic case in which there are many victims, from Christy Ruddell, a beautiful two-year-old boy, all his family and friends and, not least of all, Melanie herself, who suffered a catastrophic mental breakdown.

“Melanie was a devoted and loving mother, and well liked professional woman. She acted as she did on that day to save and protect Christy from dangers which terrified her.

“Tragically, these fears were part of her mental breakdown and not real. I hope people remember Melanie as she was and give her the compassion which someone who is very ill deserves.”