"Almost a living death": Mum kept baby hidden in drawer under bed for three years

A mum kept her secret baby hidden in a drawer under her bed for almost three years, a court heard.

The toddler, discovered at the family home in Cheshire, was found with matted hair, deformities and rashes. Her presence from her siblings by hiding her in the drawer of her divan bed and kept her secret from the mum's partner, who often stayed at the house.

Sentencing the woman, who admitted child cruelty, Honorary Recorder of Chester Judge Steven Everett said: "To my mind what you did totally defies belief. You starved that little girl of any love, any proper affection, any proper attention, any interaction with others, a proper diet, much-needed medical attention."

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He added: "You attempted to control this situation as carefully as you could but by sheer chance your terrible secret was discovered. The consequences for (the child) were nothing short of catastrophic – physically, psychologically and socially."

He said the child was an 'intelligent little girl who is now perhaps slowly coming to life from what was almost a living death in that room'. The court heard the woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her children, concealed the baby’s did not seek medical assistance for the child’s cleft palate and did not give her adequate food and water, feeding her milky Weetabix through a syringe.

Sion ap Mihangel, prosecuting, said: "She was kept in a drawer in the bedroom, not taken outside, not socialised, no interaction with anybody else."

He told the court the child had a developmental age of nought to 10 months when she was first taken into hospital and was significantly malnourished and dehydrated. Mr