Six year old left 'Home Alone with Monster Munch & Flat Screen TV'

Riddle101 wrote: »

I'd just like to get the full story about the mother and her backround before I judge tbh.

Natalie Terry, 28, abandoned her daughter for almost a week in the dirty and animal faeces- covered flat in Dartford, Kent, with just a flat-screen television for company and some bags of crisps.
The cold and terrified child eventually knocked on a neighbour’s door, sobbing hysterically and shaking, and told them: ‘Mum has left me five days and has not come back.’
When Terry was arrested on her return, she simply told police: ‘I neglected my daughter. End of.’
At Maidstone crown court, judge Martin Joy jailed the mother for 18 months.
He told Terry she had subjected her daughter to fear and distress for a ‘considerable time’ during the girl’s ordeal between November 2 and 6, 2010.
‘She was living in utterly insanitary conditions,’ he said.
The girl told police she dressed for school and waited for her mother to come home but, when she did not return, she took off her uniform and watched television.
She survived by eating Monster Munch and yoghurt, and drinking water.
Prosecutor Peter Forbes said: ‘She said, when she realised she was on her own, it made her feel sad,’ though he added the girl had not been locked in.
Officers who entered the flat found it had been left extremely cold, with no carpets and very little furniture. The only luxury item was a flat-screen TV.
A kitten had left filth in every room and the kitchen was dirty.
The child, now eight, was taken into care and then placed with her grandmother. Terry admitted child cruelty.
Her lawyer, Trevor Wright, said she ‘withdrew and shut down’ while struggling with overwhelming money problems following a violent relationship.
‘It is difficult for me to convey the depth of her emotional regret,’ he added.