[AdamD]

Source - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/l...re/8362815.stm

I can't believe people like this are allowed to have kids, let alone keep the ones they have.

A mother who abandoned her four young children to go on a 24-hour drink and drug binge has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Rebecca Stevenson, 22, of Abraham Street, Blackburn, Lancashire, left her two boys and two girls, aged from three months to four years, in July.

She was jailed for 20 weeks, suspended for two years, after admitting child cruelty, Preston Crown Court heard.

Judge Norman Wright said it was "an appalling state of affairs".

It was with "merciful good luck" that none of the children was seriously injured through her "absolute dereliction" of duty, Preston Crown Court heard.
Stevenson said she put her children to bed at 2130 BST and proceeded to drink a bottle of wine before indulging in cider and cocaine when friends called round.

Then in "a moment of madness" she told the court she left the children to their own devices as she went out to a house party.

She later carried on drinking throughout the day at pubs before returning home at 2230 BST the following day.

Steven Wild, prosecuting, said the children were discovered at 1000 BST that day when Stevenson's stepfather called at her home.