A MOTHER is awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to leaving her three-year-old son at home alone.

Friends of the 22-year-old Selby woman alerted police after she gave vague answers when asked about her child’s whereabouts, Steven Ovenden, prosecuting, told Selby magistrates.

The court heard the mother and child had been at a barbecue and had left together at 8pm. After putting him to bed, she had returned to collect her mobile phone. Her friends asked where her son was and an argument started which developed into a street fight, and police were called.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to child neglect.

Mr Ovenden said the woman had probably drunk two pints of vodka and orange juice before the incident.

Keith Haggerty, mitigating, said: “You have a young woman, a single woman who has made a big mistake and had too much to drink. She is very, very sorry for what happened and she is determined it won’t happen again.”

Mr Haggerty said the son had since been taken from her and her conviction would make it “problematic” for her to be able to persuade social workers to let her care for him.

The case was adjourned for probation officers to prepare a pre-sentence report ahead of her next court appearance on July 5. She was released on bail on condition she only contacts her child through social services.