Mother jailed for five years over baby's drug overdose death » Communities » 24dash.com

A mother whose baby died of a heroin and methadone overdose after she left him unsupervised to go on a "drug binge" was today jailed for five years.

Sabrina Ross, a former prostitute, would regularly pass out at her home in Bristol, leaving 14-month old son Rio well within reach of Class A drugs and their substitutes, a court heard.

On the evening the child died she left the house three times to score drugs and in the morning discovered the baby dead and clutching his Winnie the Poo toy.

Ross had taken 16 rocks of crack and two wraps of heroin with a male friend that evening, before falling asleep unaware that the child had a "free run" of the house.

Jailing Ross, who admitted manslaughter at Bristol Crown Court (pictured), Judge Roderick Evans said she had created an environment that was "entirely unsafe for a child".

Prosecutor Giles Nelson said: "During the night of July 20 and 21 the defendant was clearly more concerned about her consumption of illegal drugs than she was about the welfare of her child."

Ross, 30, left the house in Wordsworth Road three times to buy Class A substances in the early hours, and later told police she had bought the crack and heroin to share with her friend.

Mr Nelson said: "At 10am on July 21 she realised that Rio was not awake. She found he was cold, stiff and holding his cuddly Winnie the Pooh toy and had clearly died."

Ross called an ambulance immediately and the child was pronounced dead half an hour later at Bristol Children's Hospital.

The cause of death was given as morphine (heroin and methadone) intoxication.

Ross, who had been trying to beat her drug habit and had satisfied social services that her child was well cared-for, later admitted using crack frequently while he was in another room.

Tests on Rio's hair showed that he had been exposed to Class A drugs for months before his death.

Mr Nelson said: "Rio had been living in an environment heavily contaminated by crack cocaine, heroin and methadone."

She had also been breast-feeding the child while taking drugs, but that alone could not account for the level of opiates found in his system, the prosecutor added.

Ross later confessed to police that lively Rio was "into everything" and that she smoked drugs in the back bedroom, while the boy was asleep in the front.

Mr Nelson said: "She saw him holding an empty bottle of methadone on one occasion and said she had injected heroin while Rio was in the house.

"After a dose of heroin she said she would 'gouge out' and fall into a deep sleep for two hours. During that time the child would have the run of the house and there were possible drugs with his reach.

"She breached her duty of care by exposing him to a drug habit that was out of her control. He was completely unsupervised."

Judge Evans noted that the child had also "passively smoked" crack cocaine.

Ross had previously been caught soliciting and at one time served three years in jail for attempted robbery.

Fiona Elder, defending, said her client was being weaned off drugs and had satisfied the social services that her boy was "thriving" and well-nourished.

Ms Elder said: "She was making tremendous inroads into becoming a mother to that boy. Rio thrived as a child and that was the view of the authorities.

"She was a caring and loving mother who just fell sort in one aspect."

It was only after the death of her partner earlier that year from cancer that her addiction took hold once again, the barrister added.

Sentencing Ross Judge Evans told her she would serve half her sentence before being released on licence.

He said: "You created an environment entirely unsuitable for a child.
That gross neglect ended his life.

"No sentence that I can pass can give Rio back his life. It can in no way be a measure of his life, because that is immeasurable.

"You were the mother of this child. He was entitled to look to you, his main carer, to protect him from danger. Every child is entitled to expect that from its mother. Your neglect of him was a gross breach of that trust."

He accepted that in other aspects she was trying to turn her life around.

He added: "Yours was and maybe is a ruined life."

After the case Det Insp Will White of the Bristol Child Abuse Investigation Team said a Serious Case Review was now under way to determine exactly how Rio died.

It thought he may have drunk methadone on the night in question, which reacted with Class A drugs already in his system.

Mr White said: "Rio was described as a healthy, energetic, and affectionate toddler by those that knew him and our sympathy and thoughts are very much with his family who are still coming to terms with his loss in particularly tragic circumstances.

"A post-mortem of Rio showed his body to contain methadone and morphine (which can be linked to the taking of heroin at levels sufficient to cause death). Cocaine was also present at high levels."

The case was a "painful reminder" to addicted parents of a little-known impact of their habit, he said.

He added: "Methadone comes in small containers. It is distinctly coloured and children may see or know that their parents drink it which may tempt the child to drink it also.

"It is particularly toxic to small children and great care should be taken with its storage and administration by all those concerned to avoid a repeat of these terrible circumstances."

Claude Knights, of the charity Kidscape, said child deaths connected to parental drug use were on the increase and called for young mothers to be offered more education and support.

She said: "This is sadly not an isolated case and we are reading more and more reports of this nature. It is too Draconian to say that when a mother is taking a substance the child should be removed, because of the long-term relationship between mother and child.

"This case underlines the need for vigilance and a support network around the mother, including the social services and the extended family. There should be more guidance and support. I can imagine the utter desolation this mother must now be feeling.

"She obviously had needs that were huge. I'm sure a risk assessment was carried out, but perhaps there were some loopholes there."

A spokeswoman for Bristol City Council said it could not comment further on the case until the probe into Rio's death was completed.

She said: "The Bristol Safeguarding Children Board has commissioned a Serious Case Review into this case which will report once all the legal processes are complete and all the evidence is available.

"The review aims to establish whether there are lessons to be learnt for the agencies involved in the case and will make recommendations about any changes in practice necessary to prevent any similar cases occurring."