Baby kept in a drawer for almost three years ‘had never seen daylight’ as mum jailed over ‘extreme neglect’
A MUM has been jailed for “extreme neglect” after keeping her baby in a drawer under her bed for almost three years.
The tot had never seen daylight until she was found weeks before her third birthday.
She was discovered at the family’s Cheshire home with matted hair, deformities and rashes.
The “wicked” mum hid the baby from her siblings in the drawer of her divan bed.
She also kept the secret from her partner, who often stayed at the home.
The woman cannot be named to protect the anonymity of her children.
She has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years after admitting child cruelty at Chester Crown Court.
The woman did not seek medical assistance for the baby’s cleft palate.
She did not give the tot enough food and water – feeding her milky Weetabix through a syringe.
Sion ap Mihangel, prosecuting, said: “She was kept in a drawer in the bedroom.
“She was not taken outside, not socialised, no interaction with anybody else.”
The child had a developmental age of nought to 10 months when she was raced to hospital.
She was “significantly” malnourished and dehydrated, the court heard.
The baby was left alone while the mum took her other children to school, went to work and stayed with relatives at Christmas.
When her boyfriend started staying over, the mum left the baby alone in another room.
‘OVERWHELMING HORROR’
The boyfriend found the baby one morning when he came back to use the toilet after the woman had left.
He heard a noise and went into one of the bedrooms, where he saw the baby.
The man left the home and alerted family members – with social services scrambling to the address.
A social worker found the baby in the drawer of the bed and asked the mum if that was where she kept her daughter.
The worker told the court: “She replied matter-of-factly, ‘Yes, in the drawer’.
“I was shocked the mother did not show any emotion and appeared blase about the situation.
“It became an overwhelming horror that I was probably the only other face the child had seen apart from her mother’s.”
‘TRULY DEVASTATING’
Two hardened cops were in tears as a “truly devastating” statement from the child’s foster carer was read out to the court.
The carer said: “It became very apparent she did not know her own name when we called her.”
In an interview, the mum said she had not known she was pregnant and was “really scared” when she gave birth.
She claimed she did not keep the baby in the drawer at all times and never closed it.
But she told cops the baby was “not part of the family” and that she had abusive relationship with the tot’s father.
The woman said she did not want the man to find out about the youngster.
‘STARVED OF LOVE’
Sentencing, Judge Steven Everett said: “To my mind, what you did totally defies belief. It was wicked beyond belief.
“You starved that little girl of any love, any proper affection, any proper attention.
“Any interaction with others, a proper diet, much-needed medical attention.
“You attempted to control this situation as carefully as you could but by sheer chance your terrible secret was discovered.
“The consequences for the child were nothing short of catastrophic – physically, psychologically and socially.
“She is an intelligent little girl who is now perhaps slowly coming to life from what was almost a living death in that room.”
CHILLING NEGLECT
Matthew Dunford, defending, said there had been an “exceptional set of circumstances”.
He said the woman suffered from poor mental health and had struggled during the covid-19 lockdown.
Dunford added that the woman had a volatile relationship with the child’s father.
The woman wiped away tears as Dunford told the court her other children no longer lived with her.
She pleaded guilty last month to four counts of child cruelty.
The charges reflected her failure to seek basic medical care for the child, abandonment, malnourishment and general neglect.
BROUGHT TO JUSTICE
CPS senior prosecutor Rachel Worthington said: “This child has never had a birthday present, a Christmas present or anything to recognise these days.
“She’s had no interaction with any of her siblings. She hadn’t known daylight or fresh air.”
Worthington added: “She didn’t respond to her own name when she was first found.
“The motive behind the mother’s behaviour is still not clear, but that is not the role of the Crown Prosecution Service.
“Our job is to bring the person responsible to justice. That has now been done.
“It is the profound hope of the CPS that the victim in this case recovers sufficiently to live as full a life as possible.”