Drug-addicted parents jailed for cruelty after death of baby

A CRYING seven-month-old baby girl died after being put in a compartment under a bed by her drug addict father, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

The baby was placed in the space used for storing clothes and toys when she cried and a sock was sometimes placed in her mouth.

A manslaughter charge against the 37-year-old father was dropped after doctors failed to agree the cause of death.

There was no evidence she had anything in her mouth when she died.

He pleaded guilty to six charges of child cruelty to the baby and her two older sisters and to perverting justice and was jailed for a total of five years.

The children's mother, aged 32, who like her partner was addicted to crack cocaine, was jailed for three years after admitting child cruelty and perverting justice.

The family, from London, cannot be named for legal reasons.

The court was told the children, all under eight, were living in a filthy flat.

The oldest girl, then seven, was starved of food, had soap placed in her mouth and had her ears pulled by the father.

A younger girl, then three, had to have all her milk teeth removed because she had been constantly given sugar in her milk to stifle her appetite.

The children were left alone while the parents went out to looking for drugs or stealing.

Orlando Pownall, QC, prosecuting, said the baby was found dead in January 2001, but the authorities were not told she had been under her sister's bed.

A post-mortem examination appeared to show that she died from part of her intestine being suppressed.

Later that year, the oldest child told a relation that the baby was under her bed the night she died.

The body was exhumed and examined by other doctors.

However, they could not agree if being in the storage compartment had contributed to the death of the young child.