Foster mother jailed for 'extremely severe' cruelty to three-year-old child in care

The little boy was badly bruised from head to foot during the five months his foster mother was supposed to be looking after him, a judge was told.

And he was left in agony for hours after accidentally plunging his hands into very hot water because she did not want doctors to see the other tell-tale marks on his body, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

When she finally took him to hospital the following day, medics alerted police amid fears he had also suffered a host of 'non-accidental' injuries, explained Mr Howard Searle, prosecuting.

Doctors found severe bruising to his face, thighs, buttocks, lower back and lower legs as well as grazes to his back and face, continued the lawyer. It was not possible to give specific dates for when this occurred but those to the face and thighs were caused by hand slaps, the court heard. She admitted smacking the youngster.

The woman started caring for the child in March last year and he was taken to Birmingham Children's Hospital on August 25, 2013 after accidentally burning himself in hot water the previous day, said Mr Searle. The burns were so severe he still had to wear gloves a year later, the judge was told.

Miss Kate Thomas, defending, said the child had a history of spitting, hitting and kicking and these 'aggression problems' had been highlighted by an earlier foster mother.

The defendant had to give up her job to look after the boy and was not given the support she had expected from social workers, it was alleged.

Miss Thomas added: "This was a difficult child. She felt increasingly stressed and snapped. She did not take the boy to hospital when she should because she was not thinking straight and accepts this was wholly unacceptable."

The foster carer from Walsall admitted child cruelty and was given a 16-month prison sentence by Judge Mark Eades who told her: "There were multiple assaults on the child although I cannot say precisely over what period they occurred. There were bruises all over his body and they were not minor. The child suffered extremely severe bruising and some scratch marks as a result of a whole series of actions by you over a period of time. He then had to suffer severe pain, if not agony, for a day before you took him to hospital. The gravity of these offences can only be marked by a custodial sentence."