A 61-year-old woman has been charged with the murder of a baby and the assault of a one-year-old girl.

Karen Foster, of no fixed address, will appear before Blackburn Magistrates’ Court this morning, Lancashire Police said.

Foster is not related to either of the two victims and the two children are not related to one another, according to the force.

Police were called on 1 March last year to an address in Hapton, Lancashire, following reports a baby boy had suffered a medical episode.

The boy, aged nine-and-a-half months, was taken to hospital for treatment but died on 5 March 2022.

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Foster, from Haslingden, and a 78-year-old man from Burnley were arrested on suspicion of assault and were subsequently detained on suspicion of murder.

The 78-year-old man has now been released without charge, while Foster has been charged with the baby’s murder.

She is also charged with a separate assault on a one-year-old girl in Hapton on 22 March 2019.

Lancashire Police said the family of the boy who died are being supported by specially trained officers, adding: “Our thoughts are with them at this time.”

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