Sheffield is still absorbing the shock of a case that began with a hospital call and ended in an outbuilding
In the early hours of Sunday, 30 August 2026, staff at a Sheffield hospital raised an urgent concern. Andrea Skopova, 20, had arrived after giving birth at home at 37 weeks. The newborn girl was not with her. Officers were sent first to her listed address, then to a house on Holywell Heights in Wincobank. There they found the infant — later referred to in court only as Baby S — already dead.
Prosecutors told Sheffield Magistrates’ Court that the child was wrapped in a towel, placed inside a blue bag, and left on top of a washing machine in an outhouse. A forensic post-mortem established the cause of death as stab wounds. The court heard she had 33 wounds from 15 separate stabbings, including injuries to the face and to the torso, front and back. A doctor told the hearing she would have been alive when the attack took place.
Four Slovakian nationals have been charged with murder, with causing or allowing the death of a child, and with perverting the course of justice by taking steps to conceal the killing and clean the scene. They are Skopova, her boyfriend Peter Horvath Jr, 19, and his parents, Peter Horvath Sr, 38, and Nina Horvathova, 37. The court was told Horvath Jr is not believed to be the baby’s father; the father’s identity remains unknown. A 15-year-old girl, who cannot be named, faces a charge of perverting the course of justice. Two other women, aged 26 and 37, who were arrested on suspicion of murder, remain on bail.
The four adults and the teenager were remanded in custody. At Sheffield Crown Court, Judge Sarah Wright fixed a trial for 12 April 2027, expected to last six to seven weeks. A further hearing is listed for 2 October 2026.
Neighbours described a household that had moved into the three-bedroom property about eight months earlier: quiet on the street, but with frequent visitors. Flowers and soft toys have since been left outside. South Yorkshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service have called the death a tragedy under active investigation and said charging the defendants was a significant step toward establishing what happened in the hours after the birth.
The legal process will now test who was present, who knew, and who acted. Until a jury decides, the charges remain allegations. What is already a matter of public record is narrower and colder: a baby born at home, a mother in hospital without her child, a search that led to an outhouse, and injuries no infant should ever have to carry. For a community that never had the chance to know Baby S, those facts are enough to leave a lasting mark. The trial next spring will be asked to fill in the rest.
