Daily Mail caption: Lauren Wade, who was two years and five months old, died from complications arising from malnutrition in March 2015

 

Daily Mail caption: Wade (left) and Sweeney (right)  admitted wilfully ill-treating and neglecting the child last month, and also pleaded guilty to similar charges in respect of two older children

Our thanks to Maureen for this. Extracts:

The ‘deviant and devious’ parents of a malnourished toddler who died after she was left starving for months and riddled with thousands of head lice, have been jailed for six years.

Margaret Wade, 38, and Marie Sweeney, 37, have today been jailed over the death of Lauren Wade, who was left to starve at their filthy flat in Glasgow’s Sighthill.

Lauren, who was just two years and five months old, died from complications arising from malnutrition in March 2015…

Wade, who was Lauren’s biological mother, told police she had ‘no guilt’ over her daughter’s death. The judge said the two women had been offered help and advice and had failed to take it…

Wade and Sweeney admitted wilfully ill-treating and neglecting the child last month, and also pleaded guilty to similar charges in respect of two older children…

Both adults and two older children involved in the case were also found to have extensive head lice, which were so visible officers could see them…

The children had tooth decay and head lice and the older girls were not given adequate clothing, the court heard…

Mr McVicar [prosecutor] added: ‘It is clear the failure to provide proper accommodation was a long-standing issue which did not simply emerge in the days or weeks before the death of Lauren.

‘Margaret Wade accepted no responsibility for her failings in basic parenting. She said she had no guilt over Lauren’s death.’…

Lady Stacey imposed three year jail terms for the neglect of the other children, but these will run concurrently [J4MB: So no punishment, then] to the sentence involving Lauren.

The judge said the jail term would have been seven years, had the pair not entered guilty pleas….

Colin Anderson, independent chair of Glasgow Child Protection Committee, called it one of the most challenging cases he had seen in his 50 years in social care.

He said: ‘This is a unique set of circumstances, thankfully. It’s the most deviant and devious parenting couple I’ve ever encountered.

‘This heart-breaking case involved a number of different agencies and lessons have already been learned [J4MB: How often have we heard this BS, in other cases of extreme child neglect, leading to their deaths?] and applied through various dissemination and training activities.

The pair showed no emotion as they were led to the cells.

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