Partying mother left baby home alone for a week

The woman, 20, of Powys, mid Wales, appeared before Merthyr Crown Court yesterday to admit neglect of her 15-month-old child.

The court heard she had returned on a daily basis, to give the girl some breakfast and a microwave meal, before returning to a friend’s flat to continue partying.

The alarm was raised by neighbours after they heard the baby repeatedly crying.

Judge John Curran said while the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had gone back to the house to occasionally check up on her daughter, she had still “neglected her for a very long time”.

“Your daughter was left in the dark and cold, she was hungry and thirsty and had not been changed for days,” he added.

Police officers were alerted to the child by neighbours and found the house to be cold and dark, and with all its rooms in a mess.

When they arrived, the little girl had been on her own for more than 24 hours, there had been no heating on and the child, in her cot upstairs, was partly covered by a blanket.

Prosecutor Michael Hammett said the officers took the girl to the nearby police station to be cleaned up and fed, after officers went out to the corner shop to buy nappies, clean clothes and baby wipes.

“When they gave her food and drink she grabbed them as if she had been starved,” he added.

A doctor examined the child and discovered that she had severe nappy rash which was so bad it was bleeding.

The single mother broke down in tears as she was jailed for 15 months. Her defending barrister Geraint Jones said his client deeply regretted her actions and hoped to rebuild her relationship with her daughter after leaving prison.

In a statement afterwards, the NSPCC described the case as an “extremely depressing one”.

Chief executive Andrew Flanagan said child neglect was all too common with around 21,000 children in Britain on the child protection register for that reason.

“Thankfully, as in many cases of neglect, it was the neighbours who did the right thing and raised the alarm.”