Police quiz British graduate who ‘left kids and walked down the street naked and drunk’
‘I’m shocked. She was a doting mum’
A BRITISH mother has been quizzed by police over claims she walked naked down a street drunk after leaving her young children home alone in the Canary Islands.
Sophie Shambley, 30, was on bail yesterday after witnesses claimed they saw her strolling nude in the resort of Patalavaca on Gran Canaria.
Her husband, Shaun, strenuously denies the claims, while neighbours at their former home in Wigan described the university graduate as a ‘doting mum’ to her children, a boy of four and a 20-month-old girl.
Mr Shambley branded the police allegations ‘all lies’, claiming his wife was in the apartment they had just moved to when a naked woman was seen on the streets.
Police said they were called to the family’s duplex apartment after neighbours claimed Mrs Shambley, who works in sales, was in the street without any clothes at around 10pm while her children threw objects out of the window.
But although Mr Shambley admits the children threw toys, he claims his wife was asleep at home when police arrived. Officers say they found the crying boy asking for food and the girl in a soiled nappy with marks on her legs.
Police said they tried to call Mr Shambley, 32, during the incident on Friday night, but he was at a stag do.
Speaking yesterday after she was released pending inquiries, he said: ‘We had been at a wedding that day where I was best man and Sophie was a bridesmaid.
‘Everyone was out for a few drinks. Sophie took the kids home, put them to bed and fell asleep either on the terrace or on the bed. The next minute the police turned up because the kids had woken and were throwing toys over the balcony.
‘Our son does it all the time, we keep telling him to stop. The neighbours phoned the police
because it’s a quiet neighbourhood. As the police came up, she was fast asleep in the house and they couldn’t wake her up. ‘She wasn’t walking the streets.’ He said the marks on his daughter’s legs were mosquito bites, and claimed coverage of the incident had ruined his wife’s life.
He added: ‘She’s absolutely fuming. She’s walked out of work today, she’s crying her eyes out. Everyone she knows is going mad – they want nothing to do with us. Her family have disowned her.
‘It is total and utter lies. She never abandoned the kids. The kids went to bed. The stuff about the leg – she got bit, a mosquito, and it scabbed up a bit.’
While Mrs Shambley was taken to a police station, the children were left in the care of their grand- father, who lives on Gran Canaria. When police arrived at the apartment, they allegedly found her lying naked on her bed with her children ‘unattended’. Insiders said it was the first time police had been called to the property and there was no known his- tory of child neglect, while social media photos of Mrs Shambley, who attended De Montfort University in Leicester, appear to show a loving mother.
A source close to the case said: ‘She was released on bail after questioning by a judge pending an investigation. She was also allowed back with her children because it was a first alleged offence of its kind and the children did not suffer any violence.
‘Police did try to contact the children’s father but were unable to reach him.
‘Everything is pointing towards the mother going out on the street naked while under the influence of alcohol and leaving the children unattended.’
A former neighbour of the Shambleys, who lives near their old bungalow on a cul- de- sac in Wigan, said: ‘I’m shocked. I’d be really surprised if that was true because she was a doting mum.
‘They were a smashing family. I hope it is some kind of misunderstanding.’
A spokesman for the Spanish Civil Guard said: ‘Officers went to the area after receiving calls about a woman who was apparently inebriated and walking naked along a street while her children were throwing objects. ‘Locals told them the woman had returned to the place where she was staying moments earlier. They went to the place, discovering the door was open and hearing children crying. They entered and found it in a mess with two youngsters who looked neglected. ‘The little girl was in her crib and her nappy was soiled and she had chaff marks on her legs, a clear sign she had had the same nappy on for hours. The four-year- old was crying and asking for food. Officers offered them food and water. The mother was laid on the bed without any clothes on and looked drunk.’