Nelson mum said she didn’t give a s*** about her kids, court told

Police arrived to find the youngsters ‘home alone’ in Nelson at around 3am on Monday, September 3, after receiving an anonymous tip-off from a neighbour, Burnley Magistrates’ Court was told.

Patrol officers had to force an entry into the terraced property, where they found a three-year-old and four-year-old behind the front door.

The eight-month-old baby was asleep alone in the main bedroom.

Prosecutor Charlotte Crane said that the parents, who cannot be named for legal reasons, ‘ambled back to the house’ at around 4am, to find the police caring for their children.

“They were heavily under the influence of alcohol,” she added.

Mrs Crane said the father, when interviewed by police later the same day, accepted it was a ‘stupid thing to do’.

He told officers they usually arranged a babysitter.

But when the youngsters’ 21-year-old mother was quizzed, around the same time, she did not seem to realise the seriousness of the position, the court heard.

Mrs Crane said: “She was asked whether when she had gone out drinking she had given any thought to her children.

“She said that she did think about the children but then thought ‘I couldn’t give a s***’ and just ‘started on the shots’.”

The pair, who live in Nelson, each admitted three offences of child neglect.

The court was told by the mother that, by her own admission, the children usually got up around 6am.

Christian Kavanagh, defending, said an important issue, over whether the case could be dealt with by magistrates or should be committed for sentence, was whether it was felt to be a ‘short-term’ or ‘long-term’ abandonment case.

“It is my submission that this was a short-term abandonment.

“It is a single event and it was a single incident,” added Mr Kavanagh.

But magistrates chairman Victor Foster said that the bench felt the charges should be referred to Burnley Crown Court for sentence.

The parents were bailed until November 16.