{"id":24866,"date":"2013-01-31T19:29:03","date_gmt":"2013-01-31T18:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uk.news.yahoo.com\/mother-jailed-son-killed-falling-tv-162207928.html"},"modified":"2013-01-31T19:29:03","modified_gmt":"2013-01-31T18:29:03","slug":"mother-jailed-after-baby-killed-by-falling-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/mother-jailed-after-baby-killed-by-falling-tv\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother Jailed After Baby Killed By Falling TV"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A woman who killed her baby son when she knocked a television on his head while high on drink and drugs has been jailed for 15 months.<\/p>\n

Natalie McMillan, 25, put her “self-indulgent drugs lifestyle” ahead of the welfare of her son Kian, who died from “catastrophic injuries”, Preston Recorder Judge Anthony Russell QC said.<\/p>\n

The baby boy was lying on his changing mat at the family home in Burnley, Lancashire, when his mother attempted to move the TV to plug in a scart lead and watch a DVD.<\/p>\n

While giving evidence at her trial at Preston Crown Court, she tried to blame Kian’s father – her ex-partner Edward Hanratty, 41 – and said she was upstairs in bed at the time.<\/p>\n

McMillan denied she had been under the influence of drugs when her son died, but tests later showed she had taken heroin and valium.<\/p>\n

Hanratty had also taken drink and drugs, and had passed out on the kitchen floor at their address on December 6, 2011.<\/p>\n

Both pleaded guilty to child cruelty on the basis of neglect during their trial last month.<\/p>\n

McMillan was cleared of manslaughter by gross negligence, but Judge Russell said he was satisfied it was she who actually moved the television through “foolishness”.<\/p>\n

Hanratty failed to attend for his sentencing and a warrant for his arrest has been issued.<\/p>\n

Sentencing McMillan, the judge said: “Over the short life of your child it is apparent that both you and your partner gave priority to your selfish and self-indulgent drugs lifestyle and neglected the welfare of Kian.<\/p>\n

“On the night he died, both of you were so intoxicated by drugs and alcohol that you probably forgot all about him with the tragic consequence that he died.”<\/p>\n

He added that it was clear McMillan had been concealing the extent of her drug addiction from social services and health teams for a long time.<\/p>\n

She had also hidden her relationship with Hanratty, who was known to social services for previous welfare issues with other children.<\/p>\n

Peter Wright QC, defending, said McMillan had made “considerable improvement” since descending to the “depths of the spiral of drink and drugs”.<\/p>\n

He added: “This is a young woman who is emotionally detached. This emotional detachment may be long term by reason of her own life by what occurred in infancy and subsequently in adolescence.”<\/p>\n

Detective Inspector Mark Rothwell from Lancashire Police said: “This is a tragic case in which a four-month-old baby has lost his life in the most tragic of circumstances.<\/p>\n

“Natalie McMillan was in no fit state to look after Kian that night, and this should serve as a warning to people and highlight the most serious of consequences of caring for children, especially young babies, whilst under the influence of drink and drugs.<\/p>\n

“From the moment Natalie McMillan dialled 999, to her sentencing, she has shown absolutely no remorse and will now have a period in custody to reflect on her actions and the impact that drugs have had on her life.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A woman who killed her baby son when she knocked a television on his head while high on drink and drugs has been jailed for 15 months.
\nNatalie McMillan, 25, put her “self-indulgent drugs lifestyle” ahead of the welfare of her son Kian, who died from “…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1213,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-24866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}