A WOMAN thug has avoided jail after breaking a baby's arm in a fit of rage following a tiff with her boyfriend.

Lucy Howarth, 20, took out her anger on a three-month-old tot she was looking after and told her mum she was going to kill herself.

4 Lucy Howarth, was found guilty of child cruelty but avoided jail Credit: Cavendish Press

4 A judge slammed the 20-year-old from Oldham as "selfish" Credit: Cavendish Press

The part-time student from Oldham, slammed as "selfish" by a judge, fractured the baby's arm by twisting it violently and then failed to report his injuries.

It took two days for the boy, who cannot be named, to receive treatment for the break.

A doctor said he would have been "a great deal of pain", prosecutors told Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester.

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He was only taken to hospital by a carer who noticed the child being "whingy" and unable to move his right arm.

Howarth, who has been ruled unfit to work because of her mental health, denied wrongdoing.

She maintained that the carer who took the tot to hospital must have injured the baby.

Her defence said that she was "emotionally unstable" at the time of the attack in October 2015, when she was 17.

Howarth's lawyer, Michael Johnson, said: "She can be a pleasant young lady with an engaging personality."

4 Howarth denied harming the baby boy who was left in her care Credit: Cavendish Press

4 Howarth's acts were described by a judge as being born out of "extreme immaturity" Credit: Cavendish Press

But prosecutor Jonathan Savage, said she "failed to seek prompt medical treatment and during the course of her interviews she sought to blame others."

Agreeing, Judge Bernadette Baxter, said: "She was selfish and self indulgent and I dare say this incident was born out of extreme immaturity.

"She's never had any employment outside the home and is very socially isolated.''

Howarth was convicted of child cruelty and was handed an 18-month jail term suspended for two years.

The child was said to have made a full recovery.

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