THE parents of a toddler who died from complications arising from malnutrition have each been jailed for more than six years after admitting neglect.
Lauren Wade died in hospital aged two years and five months on March 20, 2015. Medical staff found she was extremely thin and infested with head lice. She had been brought in after being found unresponsive on a couch in her home in Glasgow.
READ MORE: Universal Credit reforms do not go far enough, experts tell Rudd
Last month, her parents Margaret Wade, 38, and Marie Sweeney, 37, admitted wilfully ill-treating and neglecting Lauren. They also pleaded guilty to similar charges in respect of two older children. They were each sentenced to six years and four months behind bars when they appeared at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday.
Wade, Lauren’s birth mother, and Sweeney admitted they wilfully ill-treated and neglected the child in a manner likely to cause her unnecessary suffering or injury to her health through a series of failings in her care between June 2014 and March 2015. They admitted failing to provide adequate nutrition and fluids and failed to bath her and maintain her personal hygiene. The court heard she was “dirty and smelly” when she arrived at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in March 2015, and thousands of head lice were found on her hair and body.
When authorities went to the family home in the Sighthill area, they found decomposing food, dirty dishes and flies and insects. The kitchen was inaccessible due to the number of bin bags piled up inside.
READ MORE: Number of Scots struggling with housing costs rises by a third
Wade and Sweeney also admitted similar charges relating to two older children between August 2007 and March 2015. They were jailed for three years for these offences, with the sentences to run concurrently.
Brian McConnachie QC, representing Wade, said she had mental health problems which had affected her ability to care for the children. He said: “She appears to have got to the stage where not only was she ignoring her own health but also the health of the children.”
Ian Duguid QC, representing Sweeney, said the older children attended school and dance classes and there was an “extraordinary contrast” between their life outside the flat and within it. He added: “She feels extraordinarily sad she has let these children down as badly as she did, particularly in Lauren’s case.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here