Irresponsible and unhelpful article about baby’s death?

There is another thread about this - https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5413093-mother-charged-with-neglect?page=4&reply=147239446

@DuckCootLoon - that's another devastating case, just horrific to read.

Why it may have been treated differently - maybe there were important features we don't know about which were different.

Even if it were essentially the same, different police forces/units may investigate differently. So the facts may have been essentially the same but the quality of evidence different. There may also have been a procedural failure which weakened the case in your example.

And even if the strength of the case were the same, the CPS in your area may have judged differently to the one in Staffordshire - simply because reasonable people/committees can come to different conclusions.

It's a strange prosecution. I remember a baby dying local to me after the mum and mum's sister had gone out drinking. The mum and baby went to sleep in the same bed, and the sister noticed that mum had rolled on top of the baby. The mother was so drunk she didn't even wake up throughout the attendance of the ambulance crew and the police. The pathologist said that they couldn't establish cause of death. It was possible the baby had died of SIDS before the mum rolled on top.
There is so much similarity in the two stories - I don't understand why one mother was prosecuted and the other wasn't. And no, I'm not excusing either - I think it SHOULD be a crime to be drunk when looking after a baby, I just don't understand the difference between the two cases.

https://www.staffordshire.police.uk/news/staffordshire/news/2025/september/mother-guilty-of-neglect-after-death-of-five-month-old-child/

This says they couldn’t establish an exact cause of death.

Well it says she missed the deterioration so think it’s possible she could have changed the outcome. The facts in the article are that she was deliberately not in a fit state to safely care for her children… hence the charge of child cruelty, it’s not like she’s been charged with manslaughter.

Obviously.

but that doesn’t equate to being able to change the outcome.

And yes you’re right we all know the advice re SIDs but I’m not aware of a single case where the parent of a baby who has died of SIDs has been prosecuted for neglect because they didn’t follow guidance. And frankly nor should they be.

There is a very clear difference in culpability depending on whether the baby died of SIDs, dehydration or failure to seek medical attention for an obvious illness.

So the mum gets drunk neglects her baby as a result baby dies and women go o poor her she didn't do anything wrong it is the fault of police and press not her she has mental health issues no harm done
honestly this line annoys the life out of me and anyone excusing this kind of behaviour I would have serious concerns for their own kids when they think above behaviour is acceptable

Well she probably would have noticed before rigour mortis had set in. There’s no need for everyone to know the exact cause of death regardless, we all know unsafe sleeping can increase the chances of SIDS.

Exactly.

and we do legislate for sleeping with a baby on a sofa when drunk. The fact is we haven’t made putting a baby to sleep on a sofa alone illegal so I do think it is relevant why the baby died.

the fact is without knowing the cause of death and ambiguous and non specific references to “deterioration” it’s not clear whether the outcome would have been different if the mother had ill advisedly left the baby on the sofa checking every hour whilst she had a nap/made a meal/done laundry.

I have a different read. I wonder if the police / social services suspected worse abuse / suspected the mother had caused it but couldn’t prove it and charged her with what they could prove.

If she was a kind loving mum and put a healthy baby to sleep and then failed to wake up in the night (for any reason) I just don’t see CPS seeing it in public interest to prosecute.

Yes getting wasted with your baby in the house is a really bad plan. But I’m with the OP that I struggle to understand the actual criminal behaviour (as not waking up for a night feed, whether we agree with this or not, is not against the law).

I’m also a bit confused with people’s assumption she’d necked a whole bottle of vodka. That she was 3 times the drink drive limit is telling but if she’d not been drinking for the last 12 months because pregnant / breastfeeding, and if she is slim, a pretty low amount of booze could knock one sideways.

But if that were the case I just don’t see CPS pouring money into a prosecution, so on balance reckon something more happening.

@NET145 it is not your right to know why this baby died. It has not been revealed. If I was a guessing person as you appear to be then I would have to guess serious neglect causing death. If you do not feed or care for your baby for a prolonged period of time they will die. This is not a one off moment for a good mother I am willing to bet. She was 2.5times over drink drive limit when tested. That is unlikely to have been her peak.

This is not a case of subtle deterioration of a baby that a good parent might miss. Just because they are not explicit with the cause of death, I think it’s quite obvious that the mum’s neglect is why the deterioration wasn’t noticed. I would assume it’s something to do with being left unsafely on a sofa for hours.

Anyway, I don't think the op is a bad actor for wondering what has happened and I know I'm not for expecting there to be more to the report.

It's rude to say I'm twisting anything. Being left on the couch is unsafe. If we want to make it illegal we should legislate for it. If it's not illegal, how can it be packaged within the charge of neglect?

Well nobody would have known about it if the baby hadent sadly died you can try and twist it as much as you want but he fact is her baby died whilst she was drunk
Five month old babies are moving about that's why they shouldn't be left sleeping on a sofa as it's unsafe. they also need checking on regularly
Maybe this was the first time the mother had left her baby like this or maybe not ,and in previous times the baby survived who knows.

The baby was under the care of the mother. The mother got pissed rather than be responsible for her baby’s welfare. That is all you need to know.

I think they probably went with neglect as it was in her own home and the penalty for being drunk in charge of a child only carries a maximum sentence of one month.

There would still have been consequences, just not as severe ones, probably a SS referral. Similar to drunk driving, you might lose your licence if drunk driving and not having an accident, but face jail time if an accident happens.

The only learning needed from this is dont get so fucked up on booze that you dont bother checking your baby properly. It dosen't matter what the cause of death was. The facts are if the mother hadn't necked a bottle of vodka she would have been in a fit state to properly care for the child. It is neglect due to being to intoxicated to check the baby. Nobody should be drunk in sole charge of children that's really all there is to it.

Yes, she was...but would she be facing charges of criminality if the baby hadn't died? If say, a social worker walked in and found the baby well but sleeping on the couch in the morning and the mother declared she had spent the night drinking, but the baby was in her line of sight...would there be charges made against her?

I'm agreeing, it's immoral and neglectful but the outcome of the baby's death is irrelevant to the mother's crime...which cannot be leaving the baby on the couch, or not checking the sleeping baby as these aren't crimes, it could only be drinking while in charge of a baby...and perhaps, if that's the case, we'd need to be more clear about what that limit is, as we do with driving. And be more consistent in how we prosecute it, even when it doesn't result in the harm of the baby.

Although, as I've stated, I think this is probably more lackluster reporting more than anything else.

Well she's been found guilty so...

Fair enough. I only skim read the article so my fault for not seeing that the child was indeed left on a sofa and not checked on at all.

A good starting point would be to not get pissed whilst in charge of your baby. Does that help?

Totally.

To me the article insinuates this without actually confirming.

Although I am sure the conviction tells me all I need to know and the "mother" was so blind drunk she essentially forgot about her defenceless 5mo baby.

Yes, there's a huge moral difference. Is there a huge legal difference?