A woman threatened to knife a 15-month-old baby after the child kicked her from her pram during a busy tube ride, a court has heard.

Millicent Barnes, 22, is accused of screaming abuse at mum Geraldine Brannigan and demanding her daughter apologise – despite the toddler only just learning how to talk.

City of London Magistrates’ Court also heard how Barnes, from Lindley Estate in Peckham, allegedly told the family that they ‘didn’t want to know what was in her bag’.

Millicent Barnes is accused to threatening to stab the 15-month-old baby after she kicked her from her pram (Picture: SWNS)

Ms Brannigan and her family had been out to celebrate her brother’s graduation in London before the incident occurred at around 5.30pm on July 18, earlier this year.




The Central Line has been so busy she and her mother had been forced to board the carriage at one end, while her father, who was pushing the pram, and other relatives got on at the other.

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Giving evidence from behind a screen, Ms Brannigan told the court that shortly after she could hear was raised voices and her family members saying ‘she’s kicked the buggy’.

She said she heard a female voice shouting that she wanted ‘it’ to apologise and managed to squeeze through to the other end of the carriage where she found Barnes leaning into the buggy and yelling.

‘[My daughter] is a well behaved little girl, she doesn’t kick or punch, she was just sitting there like a normal child. She doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary,’ Ms Brannigan said.

The 22-year-old denies one count of using threatening words or behaviour with intent to cause alarm or distress (Picture: SWNS)

She continued: ‘Perhaps not the best choice of words, but my mum said “shut your mouth, you’re scaring the child”.’

Ms Brannigan claimed that she had initially thought Barnes was mentally unwell or on drugs due to her loud and aggressive behaviour.

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Barnes allegedly said to Ms Brannigan’s mother: ‘Don’t tell me to shut my f**ing mouth – you’re an old lady and you’ll have a f**ing heart attack. You don’t want to know what I have in my bag.’

‘She said she didn’t give a f**k about the child and she’ll stab it,’ Ms Brannigan told the court.

She continued: ‘It felt like it was becoming a life or death situation. You don’t deal with things like this every day so I felt vulnerable for my daughter.’

The court heard that Barnes made threats and alluded to the contents of her bag (Picture: SWNS)

Ms Brannigan said she attempted to called the police but upon discovering she had no signal she started to film Barnes instead.

‘She was shouting ‘record me, record me, I don’t give a f**k about the police, record me’ – there was no reasoning with this individual,’ she said.

‘My daughter was screaming now – fortunately a member of the public jumped in saying ‘You need to stop, the child is scared’.’

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A male who was with Barnes allegedly told Ms Brannigan: ‘She doesn’t give a f**k about the child and she’ll stab it’, adding that all they needed to do was make the baby apologise.



‘I explained to him, she can’t say sorry, she’s too small,’ Ms Brannigan said.

She added: ‘At this point [the defendant] is still ranting and raving – she makes a comment that she is going to stab the child and makes a suggestion that she’s going to go into her bag – whether she was just scaremongering I don’t know.’

The family were able to exit the tube at St Paul’s station with a member of staff helping them leave the carriage.

The court heard that Barnes tried to spit at the group as they left and was later tracked down after British Transport Police released images of her alleged tirade.

Barnes denies one count of using threatening words or behaviour with intent to cause alarm or distress.

The trial continues.

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