[T]HE parents of a baby who suffocated while lying between them on a single mattress have been jailed after they admitted a child cruelty crime.
Carlisle Crown Court heard the man and woman had both been drinking alcohol before going to sleep at a “squalid” Cumbrian home.
The mother later told police she fell asleep with the baby in her arms, and between the adults, just before midnight. But at around 2-40am they both woke to find the tot lifeless and not breathing.
The baby was transported to hospital but despite continued revival attempts was pronounced dead. A post mortem showed the cause of death was “overlaying” – a form of asphyxiation.
Both parents admitted a child cruelty charge on the basis they were jointly responsible for the death. The offence reflected the fact they had slept in a bed with the baby after consuming alcohol.
The house was noted to be “squalid in the extreme”. There was no working toilet – instead a bin bag was found with human waste inside. There was mouldy food in the fridge, evidence that a “significant amount of alcohol had been consumed”, while the back yard was covered in dog faeces and full bin bags.
The couple wept as they were sentenced today (FRI) at the crown court by Judge Peter Hughes QC. He noted a pathologist had concluded it was an “unsafe practice” for two adults to sleep on a single mattress with a child so young.
Judge Hughes handed down two-year prison terms to each defendant, saying: “Such a sentence is necessary to mark the seriousness of the offence, and to ensure the public that such conduct, when it occurs, will be dealt with accordingly.”
He had told the pair they should both bear “heavy responsibility” for what happened, adding: “It was a serious dereliction of the duty that you had to protect and safeguard your baby.”
