A MOTHER who failed to take her young child to hospital with serious burns on two separate occasions was handed a suspended prison sentence yesterday.

Judge Patrick Eccles said the woman, who cannot be named to protect her children’s identities, had fallen “far short of the parenting expected in our society”.

The mother, of West Oxfordshire, originally pleaded not guilty to the two counts of child cruelty but was found guilty by a jury in March.

Judge Eccles said she had been foolish to contest the charges, saying it was plain that her child  needed to be taken to hospital on both occasions, in December 2013 and March 2014.

He also said the burns appeared to be deliberate, but did not suggest that the woman had caused them. All of her children are now in care.

Prosecutor William Eaglestone told the judge that she eight previous convictions for 15 offences, mostly shoplifting and offences related to Class A drugs.

The judge pointed out she had been convicted of offences for Class A drugs between and during pregnancies.

Her barrister Adrian Amer said she had a chaotic and unstable background including a string of abusive relationships, but was ashamed of failing her young child.

Judge Eccles gave her a six-month sentence for each conviction, to be served concurrently, suspended for 12 months.

He ordered her to take part in a 20-day Thinking Ahead For Women rehabilitation programme and pay an £80 victim surcharge.