A shameless mum who left her sick baby to die while she had sex and got drunk upstairs with a man she barely knew has avoided jail.
Yvonne Adkins, 32, left three-month-old Chantelle lying in her baby rocker as she had a boozy nine hour sex session with a man she met a bus stop just two weeks earlier.
A court heard she swigged whisky before romping with her lover – known only as Peter – while her poorly daughter was downstairs at her home in Meir, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs.
She awoke the next morning on May 8 to find her baby dead in her rocker in the lounge, dressed only in a tracksuit with no blanket or bed clothes.
On Tuesday (11/8) the heartless mum pleaded guilty to cruelty of a child at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.
But she was spared jail after being given 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, with 18 months supervision.
Sentencing, Judge David Fletcher said: “Your desire to engage in some sexual activity with someone you hardly knew resulted in you leaving your child downstairs when you knew it was not appropriate to do that.
“You made a catastrophic decision that you will have to live with for the rest of your life.”
The court heard Chantelle had suffered numerous health problems since she was born on January 30, 2014 and was due to see a consultant the following month.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has launched a serious case review into the death to look at whether more could have been done to protect Chantelle.
The court heard Adkins went upstairs with Peter and left her baby alone for nine hours even though she suffered from reflux and vomiting.
Prosecutor Andrew Easteal told the court: “Chantelle was placed in a baby rocker on the floor in the living room between 7.30pm and 8.30pm on May 7.
“A man called Peter arrived at 8.45pm. He was someone she became acquainted with at a bus stop two weeks prior.
“At 10pm the defendant and Peter went upstairs.
“The two had sexual intercourse and drank whisky and she fell asleep.
“The defendant was well aware her three-month-old daughter suffered from reflux and vomiting and other complications.
“Chantelle was due to see a consultant on June 15.”
The court heard Adkins’s lover got up and went to work at 5am while the defendant fell back to sleep.
She started sending texts at 7.13am and at 7.27am discovered her daughter was cold and not breathing.
Paramedics were called but were unable to resuscitate the child and Chantelle was pronounced dead at 8.05am.
Mr Easteal added: “The paramedic noticed Chantelle was not dressed properly to go to sleep and was dressed in a tracksuit.
“There had been no preparation for her to go to sleep that night.”
A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as a “sudden and unexpected death in infancy”.
The court heard lying Adkins told the authorities that Chantelle had been sleeping in a Moses basket at the end of her bed.
But she later came clean and admitted her wrongdoing.
Nicola Bell, defending, said the defendant, who has no previous convictions, was not a mother who “consciously and consistently ignored the needs of her young child”.
She added: “She was reckless in her attention towards the child.
“She prioritised herself momentarily over the child with devastating consequences.
“This is a mother who has lost a child. She deals with that on a daily basis.”
Adkins must also attend 16 sessions at Chepstow House, in Hanley, Staffs., which aims to help women to get their lives back on track.
Chantelle’s full inquest was delayed because of the court proceedings and the case is listed again at North Staffordshire Coroner’s Court on September 18.
Councillors yesterday (Wed) described Chantelle’s death as “tragic” and promised a full review.
Cllr Janine Bridges, cabinet member for education, said: “The circumstances of the baby’s death are tragic and our thoughts are with the family.
“We view the death of any child in our city very seriously, and carry out serious case reviews when we have strong concerns as to how the death occurred.
“A serious case review is already underway into the baby’s death.
“It is being carried out independently so we can understand the circumstances of the death and the role responsible agencies have been able to play, as well as to identify how we can all learn from this deeply tragic incident.
“The results of the serious case review will be published in the coming weeks.”
