Former addict spared jail after her three children found in 'squalor' and within easy reach of drugs and paraphernalia
A Shrewsbury mum whose children were taken into care after police found them living in squalor with drugs within easy reach has been spared jail for child neglect.
The 34-year-old woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her children, was visited by West Mercia Police at her home in the Ditherington area of Shrewsbury in January last year.
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard yesterday (March 19) that when officers stepped inside the property, they found her three children, aged between six and 14, were living in a “state of squalor”.
Mr Philip Beardwell, prosecuting, told the court there was so much rubbish in the property that the woman and children shared with other adults that the kitchen and bathroom doors wouldn't close.
He said there was no food in the house except for what was “rotting” in the fridge and the bathroom was in an unsanitary condition.
He added that the garden was “unsafe” due to the amount of dog excrement that had accumulated, and the children were “unwashed” and “in dirty clothes”.
He also told the court the children's bedroom was “filthy” and there was no bed linen on their beds.
“In the living room there were drugs and paraphernalia in full view of the children,” added Mr Beardwell.
He told the court that the defendant was arrested, admitted three counts of child neglect and was handed a police caution.
But Mr Beardwell said that when the woman failed to attend meetings to address her issues, her children were taken into care by the local authority and the defendant was charged and brought before magistrates earlier this year where she pleaded guilty to the three offences of child neglect.
Ms Rosemary Proctor, defending, told the court that the woman had been clean from drugs for a number of months and was now “determined to be the mother her children deserve”. She also told the court that the woman had suffered past trauma that led to her addiction.
Judge Deni Mathews told the defendant: “Your children, through no fault of their own, were in a filthy and unsafe house, but it is right to say that you had significant trauma of your own.”
But he added he had been “persuaded” that despite the woman’s issues she “did and continues to love her children” and agreed that the defendant had taken a “step forward” by coming off drugs.
The judge sentenced her to 26 weeks in prison but suspended the sentence for 18 months.
The woman was also ordered to undertake up 20 rehabilitation activity days with the probation service.