Kids were left like ‘zombies’ after breathing in dad’s heroin smoke

A FATHER hooked on heroin smoked so much of the drug around his children they became “zombies” through breathing in the smoke.

The youngsters, aged 18 months and three, were taken into care after they were found when police raided his house on a drugs warrant.

Carers who were given the children to look after said they were wandering around the house “aimlessly, like zombies”.

Doctors said they looked like they were going through withdrawal from the drug.

After being put to bed once in care, the younger child woke up the following morning scream- ing.

The eldest child was said to have been “floppy and immobile” and slept until well into the afternoon.

When the addict dad from Gwynedd was arrested, he admitted he had smoked heroin but blamed others for his children being exposed to it.

He claimed they must have inhaled it at a local kids’ play area.

Prosecutor Sion ap Mihangel told Caernarfon Crown Court that hair samples taken from the children showed significant levels of heroin in their systems.

Mr ap Mihangel added: “A doctor believed they were repeatedly exposed to substantial amounts of heroin at the house which was said to be untidy, messy and dirty.”

The dad, who cannot be named in order to protect the identities of his children, was jailed for three years yesterday.

Simon Killeen, defending, said the man did not mean to harm the children, but by his own drug problems had exposed them, leading to withdrawal symptoms.

It was reckless but not intentional, said Mr Killeen.

Charges of child cruelty against the man’s partner, who was said to be opiate dependent, were ordered to lie on the file.

Judge Huw Rees said: “In simple terms he could not have cared less for the children at that particular time.

“If anyone needs to understand the perniciousness of Class A drugs this case is an example.”