Woman in court over child neglect

The 26-year-old woman pleaded guilty to two counts of child neglect and was handed a 12 month community order by Batley and Dewsbury Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

The court heard that the woman, from Liversedge, had been drinking vodka and smoking cannabis while looking after her two children, aged three and six, at the home of her former partner in Dewsbury on August 17 last year.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had previously been the subject of an order banning the children visiting the house due to her ex-partner’s history of domestic violence.

Police were called to the house at around 1.30am following complaints of a disturbance form neighbours.

Prosecutor Alex Johnson said the room was ‘in a state of disarray’ and the were children sitting on a sofa.

There was broken glass, clothing and cigarette ends strewn around the room.

The woman was unable to answer questions and became aggressive, which upset the youngest child.

she admitted to officers that her two children were not being taken care of.

Simon Lindley, mitigating, said this was an isolated offence occurring at a time when she was ‘particularly distressed and emotionally upset’.

He said that she has been working as an unpaid volunteer and the neglect was ‘at the lower end of the scale’.

Magistrates chairman Richard Palfreeman imposed a 12 month community order, 150 hours of unpaid work and £85 costs.

The woman pleaded guilty to the charges at an earlier hearing on January 11.