'Home alone' mother guilty

A mother who abandoned her four children for a week to go on holiday with her boyfriend to the Canary Islands has been found guilty of child cruelty.

The 44-year-old woman from Ham, south-west London, who cannot be named for legal reasons, became "desperate" when she could not find anyone to look after the children, aged between five and 13.

Although she left one son - aged 11 - in the care of a childminder, the other four were left to fend for themselves - after spending just one night with the mother of one of her daughter's school friends.

She gave the daughter £40 and a note saying that her eldest child would take care of the other children after school and cook them dinner.

The mother claimed during her trial at Kingston Crown Court that the other mother had agreed to take care of the children for the week.

But a jury of six men and six women rejected her story and took just under an hour to return a unanimous verdict.

Worried childminder

She was found guilty of four charges of cruelty towards a person under 16, which she had denied.

Judge Charles Tilling adjourned sentencing until 13 October for reports and added that he was keeping "options open" as to the appropriate course of action to be taken.

The mother left her four children on 24 February this year and went to Gatwick airport the following day to catch the flight to Gran Canaria.

But the childminder who was looking after the 11-year-old became worried and called social services.

Limited clothes

All five children ended up staying with the childminder who had to buy them school uniforms, including skirts and jumpers, as they had only "limited clothes".

The mother was arrested by police when she returned on 3 March, telling officers: "I thought something like this was going to happen".

In interview, the mother said she had left her 13-year-old son in charge because he "wanted to be treated like an adult".

She also told police that her eldest child knew what to do if her asthmatic seven-year-old son had an asthma attack.

Giving evidence during the trial, the mother denied leaving her children - another of whom was allergic to penicillin - "to their fate" and said she would "never" abandon them.