The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A desperate mother who tried to kill herself and two-year-old son amid fears of domestic violence during lockdown has been jailed for four years.
The mum attempted suicide herself because of fears the boy’s father would resume contact when lockdown came to an end, a court was told.
Lincoln Crown Court heard the woman devised a method to kill both herself and the toddler at their South Lincolnshire home.
But the mother, who can not be named for legal reasons, suddenly changed her mind after half an hour and instead rang for help.
She and her son were then driven to Peterborough City Hospital and on the journey, she dialled 999.
Sarah Knight, prosecuting, told the court: “At the hospital the defendant told the nurses what she had done.
“She said she had taken the boy with her because when she died there would be no-one to look after him.
“She said she wanted to kill herself as she was scared and worried about the boy’s dad. She said that when the boy started to cry she couldn’t go on with it.
“She was calm and collected and showed little sign of emotion.”
Miss Knight said that the boy was treated at hospital but was found to have no ill-effects from what happened.
The mother admitted a charge of attempted murder as a result of the incident on May 7 this year.
Judge Simon Hirst, passing sentence, told the woman: “You reported the relationship with the boy’s father as being deeply unpleasant with him being very controlling.
“At the end of the relationship you lived in a refuge for a time.
“This was against a background of domestic violence perpetrated by the boy’s father towards you.”
John McNally, in mitigation, said the woman was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2019.
He told the court “Her relationship with the father was an altogether unhappy relationship. There were threats of violence, harassment and sexual violence.
“Before lockdown the father was spending supervised time with the boy.
“That ended with lockdown. But in May 2020 she believed that as lockdown eased the time the father spent with the boy would resume.”
He said the woman had taken responsibility for what she did and has since shown remorse.
