The concepts of accessory before or after the fact are American ones, so they don't fit precisely into our system.
Also, it's arguable (at least) that failing to report their child missing impeded the investigation. If when baby John's body was found, they came forward to say, " coincidently our baby boy has just gone missing", that would have helped the investigation a hell of a lot.
I love seeing different theories on it though!
Indeed....the not reporting that their son was missing is notable. But perhaps , considering she was so young she relented to a domineering adult to ' deal with the situation '. Perhaps the mother was lied to when her baby was taken away. She could have been told I/ we will sort out an adoption or something along those lines and so she willingly handed over the baby. May very well have been unaware until the baby ended up on White Strand.
By that point most likely the girl would have been too afraid to report it, especially if it meant throwing a significant relative or whomever under the bus.
Having said that a disturbing element is the 28 stab wounds. Most of them seemed like tentative attempts to end the babies life ,yet not quite managing it. Reports were that the wounds seemed like that the knife was withdrawn several times which may be consistent with a very traumatised teenager trying to deal with things herself.
Suffice to say someone knows exactly what happened but are keeping quiet. Very tragic and very sad. The whole sordid lot of it.