Drug-user mother left children in 40C car

The youngsters, aged between two and eight, were left for 45 minutes in temperatures of 40C (104F) inside the vehicle.

Kelly Marie Langham, 26, of Carlisle, told magistrates she thought she would only be away for a few minutes as she popped to a city centre pawnbrokers.

She left the car windows slightly wound down but said she did not appreciate the heat could rise to the extent it did.

A member of the public phoned police when he heard the repeated sounding of a car horn in Chapel Street, Carlisle. and found two young children in the car along with a distressed baby strapped in a seat. They did not require hospital treatment but were left traumatised.

Langham was ordered to complete a one-year community order under the supervision of Cumbria Action Social Support, with a six-month drug treatment order.

The single mother as also told to pay £50 costs at a rate of £5 from her benefits at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court.

When arrested, Langham, who spoke only to answer her name and address, told police she had earlier taken amphetamine.

Police later found a small amount of the banned drug on her kitchen window sill.

The defendant said she had become dependent on the drug on a daily basis because of depression.

Her solicitor, Claire Kirkpatrick, told the court her client did not intend to leave her children in the car for so long in “dangerously high heat” and her thinking was “not how it should have been”.

She said: “This has been a wake-up call for her.

“She has significant problems for someone who is a single parent of 26-years-old with three young children.”

Last month, Langham pleaded guilty to three counts of wilful child neglect or ill-treatment and also possession of amphetamine.