Dead baby's mum jailed for cruelty

Judge Brian Duckworth told Georgina Shackleton, 23, that she had shut her eyes to the obvious risks her children were facing and could have done more to protect them.

Shackleton, of Sherwood Avenue, Blackburn, who admitted cruelty to her twin sons Jack and Adam, sobbed quietly through the hearing as Preston Crown Court heard how Jack died at the hands of her junkie husband Glenn in April last year.

He was jailed for seven years in 1999 after admitting the manslaughter of 16-month-old Jack and cruelty to Adam.

The court heard how Georgina was working at her family's takeaway on the night of April 16 when she was called to Burnley General Hospital.

Her husband had called an ambulance to the family home in Bar Street, Burnley, where paramedics found Jack lying on the living room floor.

They tried to resuscitate him but he died in hospital.

A post-mortem examination found 49 separate injuries on Jack's body.

Adam was also examined and found to have bruising and a healed rib fracture.

No injuries were found on their baby sister Natasha.

Georgina Shackleton denied ever harming the children or ever witnessing any injuries being caused to the twins.

David Pickup, prosecuting, said she admitted that she had noticed bruising on the children and questioned her husband about them.

He always gave excuses and she believed him.

The court heard how the children had been in care until social services made the decision, after working with the couple, to return them to their family home.

The family then had visits from a social worker and health visitor who sometimes reported they had difficulties getting access to the children - but Georgina denied avoiding these visits. Alan Conrad QC, defending, said Georgina had reported some of her children's injuries to the authorities and gave her husband's explanations for them and these had been accepted.

Mr Conrad said: "She alone brought money into the home.

"Her loyalties between her love for her children and her love for her husband were split, but she admits she should have done more to investigate the injuries to her children."

The court heard how Glenn Shackleton had written to his wife from prison apologising for ruining her life.

She had made no contact with him and had started divorce proceedings. Mr Conrad said the family's social workers reported the injuries on the twins in her report, but the words "no concerns" were a recurring theme.

The court heard that Georgina was aware of her husband's inadequacies and that he was not coping, but she did not want to rock the boat as she was desperate to keep her family together.

Mr Conrad said: "She has paid a heavy price.

"One child is dead, the other children are in care and she is not likely to get them back and for medical reasons she is unable to have any more children."

Judge Duckworth said: "The duties of parenthood go beyond to love and to cherish.

"You also have a duty to stop other people doing any harm to your children.

"You shut your eyes to the obvious risks they were facing. "You knew your husband was a drug addict, unreliable, that he handled them roughly and shouted obscenities at them, but you shut your eyes to the obvious siutation that was building up.

"There are few living beings more dependent and vulnerable than little babies.

"When animals have offspring they quickly develop their own natural reactions, but babies are so dependent on their parents.

"Regrettably you did not live up to your responsibilities.

"The public are rightly horrifed and concerned when they hear of cases like this when little children have suffered so terribly and it must be made plain to parents that their children must come first and foremost and their interests must be paramount at all times - but this did not happen here."

She was jailed for 12 months for cruelty to Jack and six months for cruelty to Adam.

The sentences will run concurrently.

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