Jail for Scunthorpe mum (21) who dropped baby while she was drunk, fracturing his collarbone and ankle

A MOTHER who fractured her tiny baby's collarbone and ankle after roughly picking him up while she was drunk has been jailed for nine months.

The mum, who cannot be named for legal reasons, ignored his cries of pain for three days before she took him to hospital, a court heard.

The 21-year-old woman from Scunthorpe admitted two offences of neglecting her baby.

Judge David Tremberg told her the baby could have been killed in the incident.

£10.00 VOUCHER

Megna Restaurant & Takeaway

View details

Print voucher

Book a table for 4 and get £10 off with this voucher. When ringing quote: “This is Scunthorpe” promotion. Your email address.......................... (if you want to receive vouchers in the future)

Terms: Cannot be used with any other offers or vouchers. Print voucher or show us the voucher on your phone.

Contact: 01724 281289

Valid until: Saturday, June 22 2013

Chris Smith, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that the mum-of-three went out for the evening on July 9, 2011 and was drinking very heavily.

She "stumbled home" after getting "blind drunk" and took the baby, who was about three weeks old, out of his basket.

She dropped him because of her drunken state and picked him up by his ankle, while holding his head with her other hand, the prosecutor said.

It was not until July 12 that she finally took him to Scunthorpe General Hospital for an unrelated cut on his chin, allegedly caused by a violent boyfriend. It was discovered that the baby had fractures to his collarbone and ankle.

"She accepts that she was thoroughly reckless because of her drunken state," said Mr Smith. "She admitted being a thoroughly inadequate and incapable mother on the night in question."

Richard Butters, mitigating, said it was a case of neglect, rather than wilful ill-treatment.

"This defendant is utterly devastated, extremely tearful and is finding it very, very difficult to talk about what she did on that night," said Mr Butters. "She accepts that what she did was utterly disgraceful. She has thought about it every single day since that incident. She feels utterly awful about it and finds it very difficult to discuss it with anybody."

The baby has been taken into care and her other children, aged two and one, were living with an aunt, said Mr Butters.

The mother had two convictions for dishonesty, including being locked up after breaching an initial community order, but had been out of trouble since 2007, added Mr Butters.

Judge David Tremberg told the woman: "He was one of the most vulnerable members of our society. He was utterly dependent on you for his well-being and you bore a responsibility to him and to society to care for him in accordance with some minimum standards.

"You breached that duty in a serious and inexcusable way."

The woman "came home rolling drunk and incapable" and caused the serious injuries by the way she picked the baby up, he said.

"Such behaviour could have led to you causing serious, permanent or possibly even fatal harm to that child, but you did not speak up about it until a very long time afterwards," he said.