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A new mother was so drunk she was unaware her baby had been rushed to hospital in a critical condition, a court has heard.

Marina Tilby had spent the night drinking beer and gin before passing out in a stranger's caravan beside her infant son.

She was later found laying on top of the baby, who had blood coming from his nose.

The baby was rushed to hospital but for more than an hour Tilby could not be roused.

The infant died later that day.

Swansea Crown Court heard that on March 30, 2017, Tilby and her sister went drinking in the Sea Horse Inn in New Quay in West Wales.

With them was Tilby's four-week-old son, Darrian, who was in a car seat.

Catherine Richards said witnesses later recalled seeing Tilby drinking Guinness in the bar.

After leaving the pub the sisters bought bottles of gin and port before taking a taxi to the nearby Quay West holiday park where they went to the clubhouse to watch a musical tribute act.

The court heard Tilby continued drinking in club, and was seen dancing on the dance floor with her baby in her arms - on a number of occasions she threw the infant into the air and caught him.

During the evening the sisters met three men who were staying at the park, and later went back to their caravan where Tilby continued drinking beer before switching to the previously purchased gin.

Miss Richards said Darrian was being passed around the people in the caravan "for cuddles", and Tilby also breast-fed the baby during the course of the night.

At 3.30am one of the men offered Tilby his double bed - she put the baby down, then lay next to him and soon fell asleep.

The court heard that around 30 minutes later Tilby's sister came into the bedroom and saw the defendant laying face-down on top of her baby - the sister managed to pull the infant out from under her sibling's stomach, and noticed blood coming from the child's nose.

She tried without success to rouse Tilby.

The emergency services were called, and the first responders on the scene were a team of retained firefighters who began to give first aid. Ten minutes later paramedics arrived, and continued trying to resuscitate the boy.

(Image: South Wales Evening Post)

Tilby could still not be roused from her sleep, so it was her sister who accompanied the stricken baby to Aberystwyth 's Bronglais hospital in an ambulance.

The prosecutor said Tilby was finally woken an hour later - her jumper was stained with her son's blood, as was the duvet.

She was subsequently arrested on suspicion of child neglect.

Meanwhile a team of paediatric experts from Bristol had rushed to West Wales to assist in treating Darrian but despite their best efforts it was decided nothing could be done to save him.

The court heard Tilby was taken to the hospital from police custody and was able to spend "a short time" with her child before he died at 5.40pm.

A post mortem was unable to identify a specific cause of death, and it was attributed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Miss Richards said the prosecution had carefully considered the possibility of other charges in the case but could not be sure Tilby had caused the death of her son.

She said: "The prosecution maintain Marina Tilby was too intoxicated to take proper care of her four-week-old child.

"She was too old drunk to respond to the needs of her child; too drunk to respond to signs of distress. At the very least she lay over her child when he was already compromised."

Tilby, aged 26, of Rhydfach, Llwyncelyn, Aberaeron , had previously pleaded guilty to child neglect when she appeared in the dock for sentencing.

The court heard she has a number of previous convictions, including a battery from 2016, but nothing of a like nature.

Dyfed Thomas, for Tilby, said his client had been a young mother of 24 when she took a "catastrophic series of decisions" on the night in question.

He said the defendant would have to live with the grief and guilty of what she had done for the rest of her life, and was now suffering with depression.

Judge Paul Thomas QC said he was "uneasy" at the charge preferred by prosecution, and that he - like he thought a large proportion of the public would - found it a very surprising decision.

He told Tilby: "It is a mother's responsibility, a mother's duty, a mother's natural instinct to put the care and safety of a four-week-old baby above all else. You completely ignored that duty so you could get extremely drunk on a night out."

He described the events of March 30 and March 31 as a "deliberate disregard for the welfare of the child", and a "dreadful case of maternal selfishness".

Giving Tilby a one-third discount for her guilty plea he sentenced her to two years and four months.

Tilby will serve half that time in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.