Mother convicted of neglect after leaving toddler alone for weekend

A mother was convicted of neglect today after leaving her two-year-old son home alone for the weekend while she went to stay with her boyfriend.

Kelly Tollerton, 22, left the toddler penned into the kitchen of her flat, which later flooded.

He was found by police in inches of water wearing a dirty vest and pants, sobbing for help behind a baby gate, the jury at Lincoln crown court heard.

The boy was forced to use dirty laundry for a bed and eat from plates left on the kitchen floor. The youngster was so hungry that he sifted through rubbish for food, the court heard.

Tollerton was convicted of one count of child cruelty by way of neglect, one of child cruelty by way of abandonment and one of perverting the course of justice.

During Tollerton's trial the court heard how the mother came home from college, put her son in his baby seat in the kitchen, got changed and went out.

Tollerton claimed she spent the weekend with her partner, 36-year-old Ken Hill, while her friend looked after her son.

Yet her son, now four, was only found when water seeped through from her flat to the apartment below and neighbours raised the alarm.

The court heard that when police found the youngster in November 2006 at Tollerton's Lincoln flat, there was also a spoon and a packet of chocolate on the kitchen floor.

Tollerton's son is now being cared for by foster parents. Recorder William Harbage QC told Tollerton she faced a custodial sentence. She will be sentenced on June 27.