Mother jailed for manslaughter had tried to blame 3yr old son for her crime

Young mother Danielle Reeves, 24, was jailed today for letting her 12-month-old baby Frankie-Joe drown in a bath while she went out to drink wine with neighbours.

Reeves then tried to blame the death on her older son Alfie, claiming he was jealous of his little brother.

Reeves left her son Frankie-Joe and his brother Alfie, now aged three, unsupervised in a dangerously overfilled bath for up to 50 minutes.

A UK court heard Reeves had gone to see a neighbour after a row with the father of her two children where she complained about the relationship and drank a tumbler of white wine.

When she heard her older son Alfie screaming, she returned to the flat in Redhill, Surrey, to find Frankie-Joe lifeless in the bath just a day after his first birthday in September last year.

Guildford Crown Court sentenced Reeves, of Caterham, Surrey 45 months in prison when she appeared in custody after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

Reeves wept uncontrollably as Judge Christopher Critchlow told her: 'The degree of culpability in this case was high.' He said that Reeves was guilty of gross and criminal neglect, adding: 'There must be an immediate term of imprisonment.'

The Court was told that her neighbours didn't realise that Frankie-Joe was in the bath too and only realised something was wrong when Reeves emerged from the bathroom holding the naked wet and inert body of Frankie-Joe screaming hysterically.

Paramedics were called to the block of flats and during the journey to hospital Reeves was described as alternating between bouts of hysteria and aggression.

Reeves then sought to pin the responsibility for what happened on her older son Alfie. Ms Selva said: 'She suggested that the older brother had dunked Frankie-Joe in the bath. She said that the older boy was jealous of the younger boy. She was blaming Alfie for what had happened.'

Reeves was arrested seven days after the toddler died and made no comment to Police questions and analysis of her hair showed that she was a regular cannabis abuser. The Court was told that neighbours had contacted social services about Reeves' use of cannabis prior to the incident.

Ms Aisling Byrnes, defending, said: 'My client will have to live with what happened for the rest of her life.' Ms Byrne added that Reeves now accepted that she was wholly to blame for Frankie-Joe's tragic demise and was consumed with remorse for what had happened.

The court was told Reeves suffered taunts in the streets, her windows had been smashed and she had been attacked in hospital with a snooker cue. Flowers and tributes to Frankie-Joe were also burned.

She added that Reeves had had a troubled background and upbringing which had left her incapable of coping with the stresses and strains of motherhood.
She claimed that the defendant's reactions to pressure was to drink, take cannabis and fight with people.

Sentencing Reeves, Judge Critchlow said that the bath her two children had been in had been filled up to the overflow and was 'unsafe for both of them'.
He said there was no doubt that her intake of alcohol had affected her judgement in leaving her children unsupervised. He added: 'If you had contested this matter and it had gone to trial the sentence would have been one of five years in prison.'

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