Carer left boys locked in house

A carer who had a “clash of priorities” left her two children locked inside a house while she went to work.

The 40-year-old mother, who cannot be named, left the two boys, aged five and three, inside the house in Holts after failing to organise childcare.

Oldham magistrates heard yesterday the single parent picked up the youngest child from school at lunchtime, and later returned to pick up the eldest.

After feeding the pair the mother left the children, who were by then asleep, in an upstairs bedroom and placed a sofa behind the downstairs door, to stop them reaching the kitchen or living room.

She left the house to visit a client at around 3:30pm, locking the door as she went.

A neighbour saw her leave, and became concerned as she knew the boys were in the house.

When the police arrived they talked to the eldest boy through the letterbox. The mother arrived at around 5pm and was highly distressed to find her children were to be taken away by social services.

Toni McCann, defending, said: “I’ve never seen anyone more distressed than this lady.

“She had realised in the day that she would have a clash of priorities, as she had a client to go to. She was left with no other option.

“She realises now that she should never have left them.”

The mother pleaded guilty to two charges of neglect to a young person. She will be sentenced on June 1.

The children remain in the care of Social Services until then.

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