Blackpool mum jailed for forcing children to live in appalling conditions as she took crack cocaine

A mum-of-four was led weeping to jail after subjecting her own children to ill treatment and neglect.

She forced them to live in appalling conditions prioritising her own addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine.

The 37-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons was jailed for eight months by District Judge Richard Thompson sitting at Blackpool Magistrates Court.

He told her: "You were given help, given opportunities, but you continued to drink and take class A drugs as the children suffered.

"Now they have been taken from you."

The court heard how the woman lived on Buchanan Street in Blackpool at the time of the offences in early 2023.

Police were alerted to the decrepit state of the premises and condition of the children when they were called to deal with a sudden death at the house- the drug overdose of the defendant's husband.

The woman admitted four charges of exposing the four children aged under 13 to suffering and injury through neglect and ill treatment.

The judge was shown a file of pictures inside the house which had broken glass on the floors, holes in ceilings, and exposed wiring.

The judge commented on the food "or lack of it " in cupboards the fridge and freezer.

He also said: "There appears to be a lot of alcohol and medications.

"There was a deliberate disregard for the needs and welfare of the children over this time."

David Charnley defending said his client had herself been the subject of domestic violence."

The death of her husband was difficult to take and she knows there is a long way to go before she will get her children back."