No jail for mother over children’s school absence

A judge yesterday spoke of the dilemma he faced in trying to ensure children from a troubled family received an education and whether jailing their mother was necessary to achieve this.

The eldest of the nine children, now 16, missed every school day since September. In 2013-14, he missed 122 of 183 days and in 2014-15 he missed 95 of 182 school days.

Two siblings, a girl, 14 and a boy, 11, have also had long absences from school.