Mum who left son, 6 at home for 45 mins gets criminal record

A MOTHER arrested for leaving her six-year- old son at home for 45 minutes is campaigning to have her criminal record erased. The woman received a police caution and said her career chances have been damaged as a result.

She had left her son at home while she had a driving lesson but while she was out, a nurse visited to arrange a vaccination. When she found the boy alone she called the police.

The mother’s arrest was yesterday at the centre of a push for clarity on when parents can leave children home alone.

There is no legal age limit and the 81-year-old law states only that parents must not cause ‘unnecessary suffering or injury to health’. Government advice says it is an offence to leave a child ‘if it places them at risk’.

It adds that the NSPCC recommends children under 12 should not be left for long periods and that very young children should never be left alone.

The West Midlands mother, who has given her name only as Joan, said she left her son at home after finding his school closed for the day.

‘I had a driving test [coming up] and it was the last lesson I had booked beforehand. We went to the school but it was closed … He was in no danger when I left him. I came back from the lesson to find the police on my doorstep.’

Joan accepted a caution, not realising that it meant she would have a criminal record. That led to rejection from four universities before she found a place to train as a mental health nurse, she said. ‘I am now trying to get this removed,’ she added. ‘My son is [now] 14, at school and absolutely fine.’ Parents who believe they have been unjustly treated have spoken to Lib Dem MP John Hemming who is asking ministers for more clarity on the law.

One case involves a father whose sons, eight and six, said they were too tired to go out – so he left them at home while he made a short trip to a bank.

While he was away police carrying out a house- to- house search in a murder inquiry called at his home. They found the children – who were perfectly happy, the father said – and called social workers, who took them into state care. The boys were sent to live with a relative until the father could persuade social workers that he was an adequate parent.

Mr Hemming said: ‘ If this father had left his children alone playing in the park no one would have had a word of criticism. Because he left them at home, he is treated like an abuser.

‘What we are seeing … is, I believe, the result of pressure on police to get disposals. A caution for this sort of thing is a disposal and is taken to indicate that police are solving crime. But it remains on someone’s record years later.’

He added: ‘It is very hard to work out … I sent my daughter when she was ten on a train from Birmingham to stay with my mother in Devon … Was that acceptable?’ An NSPCC spokesman said: ‘It is vital we have a common sense approach … because [parents] are best placed to know what is right for their child.’

But the Coram Children’s Legal Centre, a national charity that promotes children’s rights, insisted that ‘most children under 13 would not be able to cope with an emergency’.