Four adults will stand trial next spring accused of murdering a newborn girl whose body was found at a house in Sheffield. A fifth defendant, a 15-year-old girl, faces a separate charge of perverting the course of justice.

The baby, identified in court only as Baby S, was discovered on Sunday at a property in Holywell Heights, in the Wincobank area of the city. Prosecutors say she had suffered 33 wounds from 15 separate stabbings. A post-mortem examination concluded that the stab wounds caused her death. The body, the court was told, was found on top of a washing machine in an outhouse attached to the house.

The four adults charged with murder are Andrea Skopova, 20, of Robey Street in Grimesthorpe; Peter Horvath, 19; Peter Horvath, 38; and Nina Horvathova, 37. The three Horvaths were listed as living at the Holywell Heights address. All four are Slovakian nationals. In addition to murder, they are charged with causing or allowing the death of a child, and with perverting the course of justice by cleaning the scene of the alleged crime.

They appeared at Sheffield Crown Court alongside the 15-year-old, who is accused only of perverting the course of justice. Judge Sarah Wright remanded the four adults in custody until a further hearing on 2 October. The teenager was remanded into youth custody. A trial date was fixed for 12 April 2027. The case is expected to last six to seven weeks.

The hearing itself was brief but tightly controlled. The five defendants sat together in the glass-fronted dock, watched from the public gallery above. Seven security staff and other court officers stood nearby. Two Slovak interpreters were present throughout. Skopova and the 15-year-old girl sobbed for much of the hearing.

Prosecutor Luke Hopkinson had earlier outlined the discovery of the body at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court. Beyond that account, the court has not yet heard a full narrative of how the child came to be at the house, who was present, or what investigators say happened in the hours before she was found. Those questions will be for the jury next year.

Two other women, aged 26 and 37, who were arrested on suspicion of murder, remain on bail. They have not been charged with murder in the proceedings reported so far.

Holywell Heights sits in Wincobank, a residential part of north-east Sheffield. The case has drawn local attention not only because of the age of the victim, but because several members of the same household — and people connected to the same address — now face the most serious charges in English criminal law. Murder carries a mandatory life sentence if a defendant is convicted. The additional counts of causing or allowing the death of a child and of perverting the course of justice will be tried alongside that allegation.

English courts routinely withhold a baby’s given name in the early stages of a case of this kind, referring instead to a cipher such as Baby S. That practice is intended to protect remaining family members and to avoid prejudicing later proceedings. The same caution applies to the 15-year-old defendant, who cannot be named because of her age.

The next procedural hearing on 2 October is likely to deal with custody, disclosure and case management rather than evidence. The substantial factual dispute — who inflicted the injuries, who knew what, and whether the scene was cleaned to hide what had happened — will be tested at trial in April 2027.

Until then, the four adults remain in custody. The two women on bail have not been publicly accused in open court of the same murder charge. The prosecution’s case, and whatever defence each defendant may put forward, has not yet been opened to a jury.

The facts established so far are stark and limited: a newborn girl was found dead in an outhouse in Sheffield; she had been stabbed many times; four adults now face trial for her murder; a teenager faces a charge of trying to obstruct the investigation; and the case will not be fully heard until next spring.