'Out of it' Hayling Island mum's son 'struggled to walk' after taking Class C drug as she goes to pub

The infant’s mum, of Hayling Island, was in the dock at Portsmouth Crown Court for child cruelty after leaving her injured boy with horrified staff at the Parkdean holiday resort as she went to the pub.

Shocking CCTV footage played to the court showed the little boy repeatedly falling over after being ‘wobbly’ on his feet after being ‘unable to break his fall’.

The child also smashed his head on a glass door of the reception.

Despite being shown to embrace the boy, the mum refused for him to go to hospital when approached by staff. ‘He’s not going to hospital, I’ve got things to do,’ she said.

Prosecutor Matthew Lawson said the defendant offered £100 to staff for a beer as concerns grew for her son.

He said: ‘(The boy) was seen crying and sobbing. (The mum) asked someone for a plaster as he had fallen over. They could see there was a lump and bruise on his head.

‘She noticed he was wobbly and struggling to walk.’

Despite pleas to get help for her son, she announced she was ‘going to the pub’ before leaving him with worried members of staff.

The ‘stumbling’ defendant then entered the pub before being refused service. Attempts to cajole a group of men to buy her a drink proved unsuccessful.

Police were called and found the mum ‘rambling and not able to focus’ and again rejecting calls for the boy to go to hospital.

Mr Lawson added: ‘She displayed no concern for her son.’

A row then erupted between the woman and her partner who had turned up - with him blasting her as a ‘disgrace’.

During a search of the woman, police found 40 tablets on her, which turned out to be an anti-anxiety drug similar to diazepam.

The woman, an ADHD sufferer, had purchased the pills online after running out of her prescribed medication.

She had drunk up to three cans of Fosters lager - compounding the effects on her.

The woman, who pushed an officer in the melee, was arrested as the boy was finally taken to hospital to be checked.

Tests showed he had the anti-anxiety drug in his system - ‘consistent with the falls’ that had left him with grazes to his forehead.

He was kept in overnight and by the morning was ‘behaving normally’ with no adverse reaction to the drug.

During police interview the following day, the mum said she could not remember the incident. ‘She said she had drunk two or three cans of Fosters with the drug and as a result had no recollection of anything,’ Mr Lawson said.

‘When the CCTV footage was played to her she became distressed and said her son had clearly taken something.’

James Caldwell, defending, said the mum, of previous good character, had a ‘long history of mental health disorder’.

But after successfully taking medication for a number of years she ran out of the prescription tablets two weeks before the incident on April 15 - proving to be the ‘trigger for the offence’ which was a ‘brief lapse of judgement’.

‘The defendant had an extreme recurrence of ADHD which led to extreme anxiety and her going down the wrong path to self-prescribe her own medication. It led her to being out of it,’ Mr Caldwell said.

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Judge, Recorder Sarah Vaughan, told the mum: ‘Your son fell several times flat on his face and was unable to break his fall and when he went to reception he banged his head on a glass door.

‘You were seen comforting him but did not appreciate the severity of what was happening.’

She continued: ‘It was an isolated incident. The decision you took to take the medication and drink was your decision - but was a single mistake. I do find your responsibility was reduced by your mental disorder.

‘(Not having your medication) played a significant part. Drinking impaired your judgement. Your son ingested the controlled drug. The outcome could have been a lot worse. You are lucky.’

The mum, who admitted child neglect, possession of a Class C drug, and assaulting an emergency worker, had worked successfully with social services following the incident with the ‘case now closed’. She will also see a psychologist more frequently.

The judge added: ‘Apart from this incident you are a loving and devoted mother.’

The mum was handed a 12-month community order with 15 rehabilitation days and told to pay costs of £425.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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