A MOTHER who passed out after going on booze-fuelled bender has been jailed after it was discovered she had left her 12-year-old son at home alone.

The boy, who was described in court as having ‘multiple learning disabilities,’ was left alone for more than 12 hours after his mother left the family home to go on an ‘all-nighter’.

Preston Crown Court heard how the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons but is from Darwen, sought childcare for her youngest child but said the boy had ‘refused’ to go to his auntie’s as planned - leaving her no other choice but to leave him home alone.

Prosecuting, Francis McEntee said the police were called after the woman’s sister had gone around to the house and discovered him alone.

He said: “Police arrived at the home and gained access to the address. When questioned, it was set out in her account that she had left her home at around 10pm on the Friday evening.

“She went out drinking but it would appear that it turned into an all-night bender because she then passed out and did not return home until the following day.

“She said she had made an arrangement with her son, telling him that if she was gone for over an hour he should go to his auntie’s house, who lived nearby. He never did so.

“There is nothing to indicate he came to harm even though he was abandoned.”

Defending, Neil Howard said the woman had ‘tried to make the boy go to his auntie's, but he had refused.’

He added: “On the night in question, she had a number of issues going-on in her life.

"But what can be said is as soon as she realised what was going on, she went to the police station and made full admissions. This was a one-off incident.”

The woman, who a week earlier had walked free from court with a suspended sentence for another offence, pleaded guilty to child neglect.

She was jailed for nine months.

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Judge Beverley Lunt described the woman’s behaviour as a ‘disgraceful example of neglect’.

She said: “You left your child alone to go out and get drunk.

“The explanation for your actions is nothing short of horrific.

"This is a bad example of neglect. And only a week after you left this crown court, having escaped with a suspended sentence. You breached your order in less than a week by choosing to go out and get drunk. I have to send you to prison today - there is no other alternative.”