A mother who hid her son in a drawer from her partner for the first three years of his life has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for “extreme negligence”.
The girl had “never known daylight or fresh air” until a visitor found her crying in a bed, Chester Crown Court heard.
The court was told how the mother hid the baby in a bed drawer, keeping it a secret from both her partner and her other children.
The three-year-old girl, who had been fed Weetabix with milk via syringe, was so severely malnourished that she looked like a seven-month-old baby.
Rachel Worthington, for the Crown Prosecution Service, told the court that the girl had been left to “fend for herself” without food for long periods of time.
He also said the girl did not respond to her own name after being discovered in the couch drawer.
She was also found with matted hair, rashes, a cleft palate and other medical problems for which her mother had not sought advice or medical attention, the court was told.
The child’s mother previously pleaded guilty to four counts of child cruelty, reflecting her failure to seek basic medical care for the child, abandonment, malnutrition and general neglect.
A little girl was kept in a drawer (pictured) for the first three years of her life, Chester Crown Court heard
Her mother had hidden the baby away from her other siblings and her partner since her birth, until she was discovered by a visitor (In the photo: the drawer where the girl was kept)
Neither the child nor his family members can be identified for the child’s protection.
The crimes took place from early 2020 to 2023, when a visitor discovered the girl after hearing her crying.
After the girl was found, a social worker went to the home and said she was greeted with “overwhelming horror” upon entering the room.
In her statement, the social worker recounted how she asked the mother if she kept her three-year-old child in the drawer.
The social worker was “surprised” by the mother’s lack of emotion when she answered her question “completely naturally,” stating, “Yes, in the drawer.”
“It became an overwhelming horror that I was probably the only face (the girl) had seen other than her mother’s,” she said.
Because of the neglect, the boy has serious developmental problems and is in foster care, the court was told.
The mother told police in an interview that she was unknowingly pregnant and was “really scared” when she gave birth to the child, later telling officers that “the baby was not part of the family.”
She claimed the baby was not in the drawer under the bed the entire time and said the drawer was never closed.
During the interview, the mother became emotional as she detailed how her children, who no longer lived with her, were well cared for.
The three-year-old girl who had been fed milky Weetabix via syringe was so severely malnourished she looked like a seven-month-old baby (pictured: Chester Crown Court).
Sentencing the woman, Recorder Judge Everett said the mother’s conduct “utterly defied belief”.
He said the boy had been “starving.” of any love, any adequate affection, any adequate care, any interaction with others,” as well as “adequate diet” and “much-needed medical care.”
He went on to describe the ordeal as “catastrophic” for the girl, adding that she experienced “almost a living death in that room.”
“You tried to control this situation as carefully as you could, but by pure chance your terrible secret was discovered.”
And he added: “I don’t remember a case as serious as this in my 46 years.”