A woman in England has been jailed after her 7-year-old son died last year when she left him home alone while she went out to visit her boyfriend. The boy who managed to escape the locked house got fatally run over while wandering through a busy street.

Wendy Hall, 33, of Yorkshire pleaded guilty to the child neglect charge and was sentenced to four and a half years in jail, Yorkshire Post reported.

On the night of Aug. 11, 2020, Hall locked her son in her house and left her mobile phone for him to play while she went out to see her boyfriend. The house did not have any water or electricity. Soon after the mother left, the boy unlocked the door and wandered out in the night. He was then fatally hit by a vehicle, Bradford Crown Court heard.

The officers who responded to the accident recovered the damaged phone from the scene and soon located the child's house which was in darkness with the door open. Hall was then traced to her boyfriend's house and was informed about the child's death.

During a police interview the next day, Hall admitted that she had left her son alone at the house.

"The Crown say this was a deliberate disregard for the welfare of the child. A deliberate decision to leave him in a house which had no electricity or gas," Prosecutor Abigail Langford told the court, as reported by BBC.

"She told officers she had left the door to the premises locked so that (the child) could not go out," Langford said. Hall also told the officers that she did not think the boy could use the bolt on the back door.

The court heard that Hall was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and suffered from depression and anxiety since her teens.

"I've no reason to doubt you locked the door to stop him getting out but, as we know, he did with those tragic consequences. This is category one harm in my judgment. The deliberate act of leaving the child alone and vulnerable resulted in his death," Tahir Khan, Judge, told Hall during the sentencing.

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Representation. A gavel. Pixabay
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