The woman spent five days in Malaga after the row A mother who jetted off to Spain on holiday leaving her daughters home alone has been sentenced to 26 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months. The woman, 38, from Pontypridd in Rhondda Cynon Taf, flew to Malaga after a row with her children, aged 11 and 14, leaving them £30 for food. She previously pleaded guilty to exposing the children to unnecessary suffering or injury to health. She was sentenced at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court. Judge Eleri Rees told the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, she could not "opt in and out of being a parent". The court heard she left her children for the impromptu holiday with the money and a cupboard full of food but with no arrangements for their care. As it turned out, their grandmother stepped in to help and after five days paid for the mother to return from Spain. Police were waiting for her at the airport. Struggling The mother said she was fed up with her children's moaning and had become depressed. Rhondda magistrates had previously heard she was a single mother struggling to bring up her family while working long hours. The court was told the children were never in danger because she had two older daughters living nearby. But the court heard she had made no specific arrangements for the care of the girls. In an interview after the first hearing, the woman said she had apologised to her children. "When I arrived home, the children were angry that I'd left them. I did my best to explain," she said. "But ultimately, how could I justify myself? How can you explain to a child why I had left them?" She said she had now asked for help, and her sister and mother had stepped in to lend a hand bringing up the two girls. "My family are caring for them while I get my head together. I'm trying really hard," she said. "I'm going to spend however long it takes making it up to my children. I hope eventually they'll forgive me."



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