Peterborough mum who neglected two-year-old son jailed after leaving him alone with fractured rib

A worried neighbour called 999 at 2am on 28 June, 2019, after finding the young boy alone. The boy’s mother was found asleep and couldn’t be woken due to being drunk.

Paramedics attended the house in Peterborough where they found various worrying injuries on the little boy, which prompted them to call police.

Police visited the house and the boy’s mother, a 25-year-old woman from Peterborough who can’t be named to protect the identity of the boy, was eventually roused from her bed.

The woman was initially unresponsive and attending officers noted the messy living conditions, including cat faeces on a bathroom floor. She was arrested on suspicion of child neglect.

Her son was taken to hospital where a doctor examined him and noticed a number of red blotchy bumps on his chest, stomach and arms, together with scratch marks on his back. An X-ray also revealed the boy had a fractured rib which had started to heal.

In police interview the mother blamed the boy’s injuries on her neighbour, claiming she had been too rough while playing with him and tickling him.

She admitted she should not have drunk to the extent she did and exposed her son to harm. The woman couldn’t explain her young son’s broken rib and said he had not shown any signs of being in pain previously.

At Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on 13 August, she pleaded guilty to assaulting, neglecting or abandoning a child or young person to cause unnecessary suffering or injury.

She was sentenced at the same court on Tuesday (2 November), where she was handed one year and eight months in prison.

DC Tracey Beeson, who investigated, said: “This was a shocking and upsetting case in which the people this little boy relied upon to keep him safe failed to do so.

“Thankfully the child is now in a safe and happy environment. Anyone who is concerned for the welfare of a child is strongly urged to report it. We all have a responsibility to protect children in our communities.”

Anyone who has concerns about a child, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem, can report this by using the force’s web chat function: https://bit.ly/3vsiYDw or calling 101.

For more information on child protection, visit the force’s dedicated web page: https://bit.ly/3k3VpN7