Mother guilty of "torture" (From Barry And District News)

Mother guilty of "torture"

A VALE mother was this week found guilty of intentionally harming her baby daughter in what a judge called the most "cold and calculating cruelty" he had ever come across.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how the 16-month-old girl has been left deformed and disfigured after being "tortured" by her mother.

The child sufferered skin infections made worse by her mother picking them "to the bone".

The child was regularly treated for skin infections across her body, but each time she left hospital her wounds deteriorated and she was readmitted with "appalling" injuries.

Large sections of the girl"s skin and limbs were covered in sores through which her bones could be seen.

She was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London where staff alerted police to the mother"s disturbing behaviour towards her baby.

A nurse told police she had seen the woman "picking away at the baby"s wounds" in a way that left hospital staff "horrified".

Prosecutor John Holmes said: "At home she failed to put proper dressings on her baby"s wounds.

"Instead she put socks and tights over her limbs to cover the sores and even cleaned them with scented wet-wipes.

"Animal fur from the woman"s pets was allowed to get into the wounds.

"She has failed to give any logical explanation to what happened to her child.

"Instead she has claimed hospital staff lied about her treatment of her daughter."

The woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her daughter, admitted neglecting her child and causing grievous bodily harm.

She denied causing harm with intent but was found guilty by a jury at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday.

Judge Stephen Hopkins said: "I have never come across a case of such cold and calculating cruelty in all my years as a barrister and a judge.

"What that little girl went through makes me shudder. She has disfigured her child for life.

"Her emotions throughout the trial, or rather her lack of them, baffle me."

The woman will be sentenced next month.

A spokesman for the Vale of Glamorgan Council and its Social Services department said: "The council notes the court"s decision but it does not have any comment to make at this stage."