I unknowingly let the ‘babysitter killer’ care for my grandchildren | World | News

One of Australia’s most infamous baby killers has been accused of caring for kids again despite killing three children and attempting to murder two others in her care. Helen Patricia Moore, who grew up in Sydney’s southwest, was a troubled child from her early years right up to her late teens, reports News.com.au.

Her brother Craig Moorley told Australia’s 9News A Current Affair that Moore had made his and their brothers’ life hell, describing his childhood with his sister as “horrific” and a “nightmare” with children around them dying by what was initially thought to be non-suspicious causes.

The Daily Mail reported him as saying, “She is still babysitting. People don’t know what she did and they deserve to because she is evil.

“She is Australia’s worst female serial killer and just going about her life having kids at her house for sleepovers.”

On a night in February 1979, their stepbrother Andrew was found by his mum unresponsive with “blue lips” in his cot, which Moorley claimed was inside Moore’s bedroom.

Four days later, Andrew was discharged from hospital and the parents decided to go out for dinner. Moore was left to babysit her brothers at home. But Mr Moorley recalled hearing a loud scream from Moore inside Andrew’s bedroom. He raced inside, while his older sister ran out to the next door neighbour for help. The toddler was unresponsive, again. Doctors said the cause of death was Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Mr Moorley, 13 at the time of the attack pulled Andrew from his cot and did his best to save him by trying mouth-to-mouth.

“I didn’t know what I was doing” he told the Daily Mail. “I was just a kid and I thought I had done it wrong and that’s why he died.

“Our parents were at the club and it was just us at home. She was supposed to be looking after us.”

In May of the same year, Moore was put in charge of looking after some kids, including her 16-month-old cousin Susan Louise. The toddler’s parents received a sudden call saying their daughter was “ill” and she had to be rushed to a local health clinic. They arrived only to be told Susan Louise had died, also from SIDS.

Two baby boys found unresponsive under Moore’s care

Then early in 1980, in the space of two weeks, two baby boys, under Moore’s care, were found unresponsive in their cots. Both survived but one was left reportedly blind, with brain damage and unable to walk. He died two years later as a result of the injuries.

A few weeks later, two-year-old Rachel Hay was found dead in her bed on February 23. But it wasn’t until the death of another sibling, seven-year-old Andrew, in the family home that suspicions were raised by locals and police.

Moore came from behind and smothered Andrew to death while he was sitting on a bean bag watching TV. Police were called to the scene and the teen was taken away for questioning. She confessed to the three killings and two attempted murders.

Moore was labelled the “babysitter killer” in the news. She was convicted for three counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. The 18-year-old initially received three life sentences for the murders and 20 years on top for the attempted murders, however, it was later reviewed. She was freed back into the community on parole after serving almost 14 years.

Moore living near daycare centre

Now, at 63, Moore, who changed her surname to Anderson, lives in a quiet community on the NSW Central Coast, some 100 metres from a daycare centre. One woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, was left “sick” hearing she was living next door to one of Australia’s most notorious serial killers. She had let Moore care for her children and grandkids “regularly.”

“We were always at each other’s houses, Christmas’, birthdays, there for the birth of one of my children, she was my best friend,” she said.

When approached by the ACA with accusations she was caring for kids again, Moore is reported to have said: “No, I don’t. I have had a stroke. I have seizures. I’m not babysitting.”

Moore’s parole ended in 2005. She was not automatically placed on the state’s Child Protection Register, which monitors individuals convicted of serious sexual or violent offences against children, until Mr Moorley successfully advocated for it in 2015. It is not known if she is still on the list due to the anonymity of the register.