Mother cleared over pregnancy drinking

A mother who drank a half-bottle of vodka and eight cans of beer a day while pregnant and gave birth to a baby with serious, alcohol-related problems has been cleared of claims that she committed a criminal offence.

In a ruling described as “important to women everywhere”, three Court of Appeal judges rejected a bid by the woman’s brain-damaged daughter “CP”, now aged seven, for criminal injuries compensation.

The judges ruled a foetus in the womb was not a “person” who could be unlawfully harmed.