Marina Tilby has been sentenced to two years in prison (Picture: Wales News Service)

A mother has been jailed after her four-week old baby died after she drunkenly fell asleep on top of him, having taken him clubbing for the night.

Marina Tilby, 26, was sentenced to two years and four months behind bars after a judge branded the incident as a ‘dreadful case of maternal selfishness’ on Friday.

The mother was seen repeatedly throwing and catching her son Darian Tilby with her sister in a New Quay, Mid Wales, nightclub before taking him back to a caravan with two men she had met that night.

Tilby was so drunk her sister, who had also stayed at the caravan, couldn’t wake her up for one hour and 15 minutes while baby Darian was taken to Bronglais hospital, where he later died.




Swansea Crown Court heard how the baby boy had been found unresponsive with blood in his mouth lying next to Tilby in the early hours of March 31, 2017.

Prosecutor Catherine Richards said Tilby had drunkenly fallen asleep on top of her child who then suffered a heart attack.

The mother was so drunk she fell asleep on top of her newborn son (Picture: Wales News Service)

But medical evidence could not prove her rolling on top of him contributed to his death, nor could it rule out he may have suffered sudden infant death syndrome.

Judge Paul Thomas criticised Tilby, Llwyncelyn in Aberaeron, Ceredigion, for the ‘deliberate neglect’ of her child.

Dyfed Thomas, defending, said the extent of Tilby’s guilty plea to the wilful neglect of her son was that ‘she was so intoxicated’.

Mr Thomas said: ‘She took a catastrophic set of actions in deciding to go out that night and continuing to drink.

‘She wishes to express to the court, the baby’s father and her own family her own remorse and feeling of guilt from that night.

The court heard how she took the baby to a nightclub with her sister (Picture: Wales News Service)

‘Her grief will fill her for the absence of her child for the rest of her days.’

He said Tilby, who was not in a relationship with her baby’s father, had been diagnosed with depression since his death and had ‘clearly suffered’.

Judge Thomas said it would never be known if doctors would have been able to save him if she had raised the alarm sooner.

He also expressed his ‘unease’ that it could not be proved what caused the baby’s death.

The judge said: ‘It is a mother’s responsibility, a mother’s duty, and her natural instinct to put the care and safety of her four-week old child above all else.

She was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court (Picture: PA)

‘You completely ignored that duty so you could get extremely drunk on a night-out.

‘So drunk were you that you fell into a deep sleep and slept on top of your baby. There came a time when he was not moving.

‘He had blood in his mouth, but you didn’t realise because you were so drunk.

‘You showed deliberate disregard for the welfare of your son.’

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