Published at 08:18, Friday, 02 March 2012

A young mum who left her baby home alone while she went out drinking in Carlisle has walked free from a court.

At the city’s crown court, Judge Peter Hughes QC told the woman, who is in her 20s, that her actions had been “absolutely shocking” but he said that jailing her would not do any good.

At an earlier hearing the woman, from Carlisle, admitted a single charge of child cruelty.

Prosecutor Dick Binstead told the court how the woman was arrested at a pub in Botchergate last month after an incident.

As a result, shortly before 1am, she was taken to Durranhill police HQ and interviewed by officers. “At no time did she unequivocally tell the police that she had a young child left unsupervised,” said Mr Binstead. “She did make the point that she needed to get home.”

It was as the woman was being fingerprinted at 1.45am that she told the detention officer that she had left her child at home alone but then tried to retract the comment, claiming a relative was with the child.

Their suspicions aroused, the police officers then decided to investigate.

At 2.15am, said Mr Binstead, police went to the woman’s home in Carlisle.

They found the child, who was aged under two, alone in an upstairs bedroom.

Fully clothed, the baby was crawling around on the floor, which was strewn with toys and carrier bags.

When police interviewed the mother she admitted that she had gone out between 10.30pm and 11pm, going into Carlisle and drinking a considerable amount of alcohol.

The woman was put on a 12 month supervision order, with a 15 week, electronically monitored, 9pm to 6am curfew.

Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk