The tot was hidden in a drawer under a bed for three years (Image: Cheshire Constabulary)
A woman who kept her baby in a drawer under her bed for nearly three years has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years.
The tot was discovered at the family home in Cheshire with matted hair, deformities and rashes, Chester Crown Court heard.
The court was told the mother, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her children, kept the baby’s presence secret from her siblings by hiding her in the drawer of a divan bed. She also kept the child secret from her partner, who often stayed at the house.
The court was told how the girl was so malnourished, she looked like a seven-month-old baby and not a three-year-old child.
Honorary Recorder of Chester Judge Steven Everett, sentencing the woman who had previously admitted child cruelty, said: “To my mind what you did totally defies belief.
“You starved that little girl of any love, any proper affection, any proper attention, any interaction with others, a proper diet, much-needed medical attention.”
He added: “You attempted to control this situation as carefully as you could, but by sheer chance your terrible secret was discovered.
“The consequences for (the child) were nothing short of catastrophic – physically, psychologically and socially.”
He said the child was an intelligent little girl who is now perhaps slowly coming to life from what was “almost a living death” in that room.
The court heard the woman did not seek medical help for the child’s cleft palate and did not give her enough food and water, feeding her milky Weetabix through a syringe.
Sion ap Mihangel, prosecuting, said: “She was kept in a drawer in the bedroom, not taken outside, not socialised, no interaction with anybody else.”
He told the court the child had a developmental age ranging from zero to 10 months when she was first taken into hospital. She was significantly malnourished and dehydrated.
Mr ap Mihangel said the infant was left alone while her mother took her other children to school, went to work and when she stayed with relatives over Christmas.
Don’t miss… [REPORT] [POLL]
When the mother’s boyfriend began to stay at the property overnight the child was moved into another room and left there alone, the court was told.
The youngster was discovered when her partner returned to the house one morning to use the toilet after the mother had left. He heard a noise and went into one of the bedrooms where he saw the child.
The man left the home, but alerted family members and later that day social services arrived and found the child in the drawer of the bed.
In a statement, the social worker said she saw the child sitting in the drawer and asked the mother whether that was where she kept her daughter. The social worker said: “She replied matter of factly, ‘Yes, in the drawer’.
“I was shocked the mother did not show any emotion and appeared blasé about the situation. It became an overwhelming horror that I was probably the only other face (the child) had seen apart from her mother’s.”
Two police officers involved in the case were in tears as a statement from the child’s foster carer was read out in court.
The carer said: “It became very apparent she did not know her own name when we called her.”
In interview, the woman told police she had not known she was pregnant and was “really scared” when she gave birth.
She said the baby was not kept in the drawer under the bed all the time and the drawer was never closed, but also told officers the child was “not part of the family”.
The woman told social workers she had an abusive relationship with the child’s father and did not want him to find out about her.
Matthew Dunford said there had been an “exceptional set of circumstances” including the woman’s mental health, a volatile relationship with the father of the child and the lockdown.
The defendant wiped away tears as he described how her other children, who she was said to have looked after well, no longer lived with her.
She had pleaded guilty in October to four counts of child cruelty, reflecting her failure to seek basic medical care for the child, abandonment, malnourishment and general neglect.
Senior crown prosecutor Rachel Worthington, of CPS Mersey-Cheshire, said: “This child has never had a birthday present, a Christmas present or anything to recognise these days. She’s had no interaction with any of her siblings.
“She hadn’t known daylight or fresh air and didn’t respond to her own name when she was first found.”
She added: “The motive behind the mother’s behaviour is still not clear, but that is not the role of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Our job is to bring the person responsible to justice.
“That has now been done and it is the profound hope of the CPS that the victim in this case recovers sufficiently to live as full a life as possible.”
Detective Constable Rachel Di Nicola from Cheshire Constabulary said: “What this child has experienced in its short lifetime is simply unimaginable and how anyone can allow a child to suffer in that way is beyond belief.
“The shocking neglect was on an indescribable scale and the suffering the child experienced will impact them for the rest of their life.
“All those involved in the case have been left deeply shocked by what we uncovered, and we have all been amazed by the way the child has recovered since they were discovered. We hope this recovery continues.”