Woman left children in squalid house with no supervision

A woman who abandoned two children in a squalid house where a baby bath was being used as a cat litter tray has been allowed to walk free from court.

Shocked police officers who discovered the two youngsters described the state of the property as a “health hazard.”

The children had no adult supervision and 38-year-old Bernadette Adams – who was supposed to be looking after the children in Perthshire – was spotted several miles away with her partner David Taylor, 27.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis ordered Bernadette Adams to carry out 180 hours’ unpaid work in the community and warned that the neglect could have ended in tragedy.

He told Adams: “Circumstances in which children are neglected can easily become situations where they suffer serious injury, if not fatal injury. There are far too many young people who, unfortunately, experience such scenarios and often these matters end in tragedy for the child or children.”

Police officers probing a firebomb attack on a car owned by Adams’ former lover David Elliot found the children wandering around the filthy house unsupervised.

Adams admitted neglecting the children on May 15, last year, at the same time she was reportedly seen near Mr Elliot’s blazing car in Perth.

Adams further pleaded guilty to exposing them to unnecessary suffering or injury.

She admitted leaving them in a house with clothes piled up on the floor, dangerous medicine within their reach, and exposed to a cat litter tray overflowing with excrement.

The charge stated Adams had left them in the care of a teenager.