I went off the rails after losing my husband and raising my newborn baby in prison
The metal key ring clinked as the huge concrete door slammed shut behind her.
After giving birth just 12 weeks earlier, serving a seven-year prison sentence is not where Molly Ellis, 32, would have expected to end up.
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The only place she wanted to be was at home, where she could bond with her newborn daughter Isla.
But her crime was deemed so serious that the judge said no compassionate conditions would be imposed on this young mother of two.
She was going to have a hard time, baby or not.
It was the unresolved trauma of seeing her partner beaten to a pulp by a street gang and left with life-changing brain damage that set Molly on a dark path.
Molly met Michael Ogbeuehi when she was just 15 years old – and Michael was 18.
Molly tells Fabulous exclusively: “We were in Southend High Street and the first thing I noticed was a man standing with a beautiful dog.
“I just had to say hello.
“He told me the dog’s name was Shine and we quickly got talking. He seemed really nice with a great personality – and even though there was a small age difference, we just clicked.”
Shortly after meeting, Michael became Molly’s first boyfriend. After moving in together, Molly soon discovered she was pregnant.
“I was only 16 and still a child myself,” she says.
“But I knew right away that Michael would be the most loving and supportive father and that gave me hope.”
It was May 29, 2009 when a heavily pregnant Molly, craving olives from Nando’s, and Michael went there for dinner.
As they boarded the train into the city from Southend station, nothing could have prepared the couple for the fate that awaited them.
After being given a seat, Molly needed to use the toilet and the pair moved to another carriage to find one, with Michael leading the way.
As they walked through the carriage, a large group of young people emerged – unwilling to move out of the way to let the couple pass.
Michael asked one of the boys to move their leg so they could get through, but the innocent request had the gang closing in on him.
Molly watched and was helpless as Michael fell to the ground and received several kicks to the head from the men in the group.
“I just froze,” she says.
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“I was completely powerless – I was afraid they would attack me and hurt the baby, but I was just as afraid of Michael.”
What lasted just a minute seemed like a lifetime to Molly.
Once the brutal attack was over, Michael visited A&E but was given the all clear and sent home.
A week later, on June 6, while visiting her parents’ home in Southend, Molly went into labor. She tried to reach Michael on the phone, but was unsuccessful.
“It just wasn’t right for him,” says Molly.
“Something had to be really wrong because he never missed the birth of our baby.”
After baby Ava was born, Molly couldn’t enjoy the moment because she was too worried about Michael.
Just 24 hours later, she returned to the house with a friend to find Michael lying unconscious on the bed.
Hospital tests at the Queen’s Hospital in Romford, a specialist neurology hospital, subsequently revealed that Michael had suffered extensive brain damage which would leave him with little quality of life.
When asked whether or not she wanted to keep him on a life support machine, Molly chose not to give up on the new father.
But when he finally woke up, it was clear that the Michael she knew and loved was gone.
There were times when I just wanted to end it all
Molly Ellis
He couldn’t function at all; he couldn’t walk or talk, but deep down Molly knew he still recognized her and somewhere in there was the Michael she had always loved.
As a result of the day’s events, Molly suffered trauma that she could not tolerate.
She adds: “I was in a lot of pain inside, grieving the love I had lost and having no emotions for my baby.
“I desperately wanted to just be one of those normal mothers who go to mother and baby groups, but it just went too far.
“I stayed out until the early hours, meeting unsuitable men and hanging out in rough gangs.”
Missing a vital bond with her daughter after focusing on Michael’s condition sent Molly into a dangerous downward spiral.
“It was like I didn’t care anymore,” Molly says.
“I ended up with the wrong people and found myself looking for the love I had lost from Michael in all the wrong places.”
“When I became involved in fraud at a VIP car company I worked at years later, I tried to set up a fake transaction – I didn’t think I would get caught.”
But Molly was wrong. She was discovered. At Snaresbrook Crown Court she was convicted, along with the company owner, of conspiracy to defraud, jailed for seven years.
And Molly’s punishment was further complicated by her family situation.
“I met a really bad guy, got into a toxic relationship and got pregnant again,” she says.
“The day I came to court, I had only given birth a few weeks earlier, on December 28, 2016.”
When Molly faced a prison sentence, she had to make a difficult decision: whether to take her newborn baby to prison or risk losing her bond with another child.
Her mind was made up; Twelve-week-old baby Isla would also go to prison.
And the thud sounded from the prison door. She held her little girl in her arms, stunned at their fate in HMP Bronzefield, the same prison as Rose West, which was now on lockdown.
“There were times when I just wanted to end it all,” Molly admits.
“It all felt so hopeless. I had Isla with me while Ava stayed with my family – but what kind of life was this for my daughter?
“By all accounts, Isla and I had everything we needed; we were never short of diapers or food – and were generally well looked after.
‘But it wasn’t like I could just go to a clothing store and treat her to a nice dress. We were locked up and I felt suffocated.
“But we did get the time I missed with Ava.
CAN I TAKE MY BABY TO PRISON?
A detainee with a child under 18 months of age can request to take his child to prison.
Social services ensure that children older than 18 months are cared for (for example by the prisoner’s parents or through foster care).
- The detainee can request a place in a mother-baby unit upon entering prison.
- An admissions committee will decide whether this is best for the child.
- If there are no places in the prison where the mother goes first, they may be offered a place on another unit.
- If there is no space in any unit, arrangements should be made for the child to be cared for outside the prison.
- If the mother is denied a place, they can appeal; the prison will explain how.
- Separation plans are made when the mother goes to prison, if the child will reach 18 months before her sentence is over.
“When she was almost seven months old, I knew she had had enough of life in prison – and I gave her back to my parents too.”
After being transferred to an open prison to complete her sentence, Molly was released and reunited with her children on January 20, 2020.
Since then, her drive and positivity have completely changed her life.
She’s running now ‘Project responsibility‘ a service to help convicts and ex-prisoners rehabilitate into the workplace, helping around 150 people a year.
Ava is now the same age Molly was when she met Michael – a loving father she missed.
“I still see Michael, but I can’t talk, he can’t walk or talk,” says Molly.
“I’ve been trying to teach him to say ‘Ava’, which he struggles with.
“The thought went through my mind if I made a mistake by leaving the life support machine on for him – but I did what I thought was right at the time. No one was ever convicted for his attack.
“I now live a life where I can really make a difference to people like me who are in a difficult place in life.
“I want the project to continue to thrive so that I can be the kind of mother my girls are truly proud of.
“It has been a long journey, but it has made me who I am today.”
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